Deadly Love
by CutePiglet
Summary: [RE-POSTING] Just an ordinary day at school, but when Yami goes to the bathroom, he sees something you don't see everyday; a dead, crying boy that looks exactly like him, wearing a black tuxedo with a bleeding cut across his heart, calling him Atemu.
1. A Crying Boy

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen. Today we'll discuss the difference between…"

Yami sighed and placed his head in his hands. The day had just begun and he was already bored. Jounouchi, his best friend that was sitting next to him, was playing with his blond bangs. Apparently, Yami was not the only one who couldn't stand maths. Yami looked at his teacher who was giving him death glares from the corner of his eyes. Yami kept himself from yawning and just glared back, folding his arms over his chest. He looked out of the window and concentrated on the dark clouds that were forming in the distance.

Yami was a sixteen year old Domino High student. His parents were very rich, however he was everything but spoiled. Yami was actually very nice and charming, only if you were nice to him, too, mind you. Domino High was one of the most boring schools in the country, nothing exciting would happen, but everyone was perfectly fine with it. Most students were good and honest, crime hardly showed its ugly face in this part of the country.

Yami narrowed his eyes when the clouds darkened and it started raining. They had predicted a clear blue sky, so why was it raining? More people seemed to notice and the teacher was not getting that much attention, anymore. He cleared his throat and some students groaned or mumbled something under their breath, returning their attention to their teacher.

Jounouchi tapped Yami's shoulder and Yami leaned toward him so he could hear him.

"What's up with the weather? Aren't we supposed to see the sun?" Yami frowned and nodded, he was just as confused as his best friend was. Although he knew that Jou was clearly bored and needed some distraction, he could not help but think that the sudden change of the weather was more important than his math teacher.

"I know," he whispered softly. "Really weird." Yami leaned back and saw Jou nodding in agreement. They sat there for another thirty minutes before Yami started moving his legs rapidly. Jou snickered and elbowed him in his side. This caused Yami to jump up from his seat, the sudden movement made the teacher look at them with a raised eyebrow. Yami pretended he did not feel the boring eyes of his teacher and looked at Jou, lightly shaking his head to ask what he wanted without using words.

"Full bladder?" he whispered teasingly. Yami nodded, swallowing away a big lump that had formed in his throat. Maybe he should not have drunk that bottle of water before class. The rain was not exactly helping him, either. The small droplets that teasingly ran over the window and the small dripping noises it made when it hit the ceiling were starting to annoy him. He shut his eyes closed and raised his right hand weakly, both of his legs were shaking now.

"Yes?" The teacher folded his arms over his chest and looked at Yami, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor. Yami gave him a nervous smile. He prayed that the teacher would forgive his previous actions and let him go. He was quite sure that the sight would not be very pretty if he could not leave the classroom in the next two minutes.

"Sir, can I please go to the bathroom?" The teacher sighed loudly and shook his head. Yami's eyes widened, he was going to explode any minute now. "Fine, go. You kids really need to learn to go to the bathroom _before _class." Yami stood up and muttered a small thanks when he ran past the teacher. He got some weird looks from the other students, but he did not care. He sprinted to the hallway and headed for the nearest restrooms.

When Yami had done his business and flushed, he put his hand on the door and pushed it open. He started washing his hands, a small sigh escaping his lips. That small incident was rather embarrassing, he was absolutely sure that people were going to whisper things behind his back. He was about to turn the tap off, but froze on the spot when his eyes met his own reflection in the mirror.

A crying boy that looked almost looked identical to him was staring at him through the mirror. He did not say a word, he merely stared at Yami, tears streaming down his unnaturally pale cheeks. His eyes were red and irritated from the tears and had almost lost their light. Yami looked more closely and saw that the boy was wearing a black tuxedo, ripped at some places. There was a large bleeding cut across the left side of his chest, like someone had stabbed his heart. The red liquid was dripping on the grey floor and Yami could not help but stare at the large wound. His eyes widened even more when he saw that this boy was…

_Transparent._

Yami did not move an inch, afraid the boy was going away if he turned around. He was not exactly hoping for something to happen, the boy could be his imagination, or maybe it was some kind of sick joke. The cold water was running over his hands, but he barely noticed it. The boy's lips parted and a soft echoing voice came from them, it felt like a soft breeze that was whispering something in his ears.

_"Atemu, is that really you?"_ Yami was sure that his heart stopped beating for a second when he heard that voice. The light voice crept over him like a ghost, it was young and fragile, almost pleading. The boy looked at him without saying another word, probably waiting for an answer.

Atemu...? Yami wanted to help the boy, he sounded so desperate. He finally turned around and let out a soft sigh. There was nothing there except for the white wall. He looked at the floor, but the blood was gone, too. He finally turned off the water and dried off his hands. Was he imagining things? Then again, he must have had a huge imagination to hear that pleading voice. Yami shook his head and pinched the little bit of skin around his wrist.

"Ow!" He clamped his hand over his mouth. His skin turned red and he mentally hit himself. He was overreacting, at least he was sure he was not dreaming or anything. Yami looked at his reflection and noticed that he had gone rather pale himself. Yami rubbed the now irritated skin on his wrist and walked back to the classroom. On his way back, he kept turned his head in several directions, half expecting the boy to appear again, but he was left with nothing but the deafening silence of his school.

* * *

"Jounouchi-kun, have you ever heard of the name Atemu?" Jou looked at him, raising an eyebrow. They were sitting at one of the tables in the corner of the school cafeteria. Yami had not touched his food, yet, he was too busy thinking about that boy he had seen a couple of hours ago. He had to be sure that he was not imagining things, he was not sure if his friend could help him with this, but he could always give it a shot.

This boy had to be a ghost, that was for sure. Yami could see right through him, the white wall behind the boy had been clearly visible. And someone had stabbed him in the chest, so he had to be dead. At least he was sure that this boy was dead, but the fact that he was still bleeding left a couple of question marks in his head. And calling him Atemu... Yami had never heard of that name before, he did not know anyone with that name, even his parents had never mentioned the name before.

"Atemu?" Yami nodded eagerly. Jou thought for another moment, lowering his head while he played with his food. Yami waited patiently, he knew Jou always took his time to think over things. He finally raised his head after a good twenty seconds and spoke, "According to the rumors, Atemu was a Domino High student. He was the perfect kid. You know, popular, nice to everyone, good grades, his parents loved him, every girl fell in love with him..." Yami had raised his eyebrow after the first three words and blinked dryly. Jou looked at him and shrugged.

"Don't look at me like that, bud, that's what I heard. Atemu isn't alive, anyway. He died fifty years ago." Yami drummed his slim fingers on the table and placed his head in his other hand. Fifty years ago? Why was this boy confusing him with Atemu in the first place?

Yami had not told Jou about the boy he saw in the bathroom. Jou wouldn't believe him, anyway, even though they were best friends. Yami almost laughed at himself at the thought. He almost did not believe it himself; a dead crying boy, wearing a tuxedo, confusing him with someone else?

"What do you think happened to him, Jou?" Said person looked at him with a mouth full of food. He chewed for a moment and then swallowed. He put his fork down and placed his head in his hand, mirroring Yami's actions, looking at him with a small playful grin.

"Do I look like a history book to you, Yami?" Yami chuckled in response and shoved Jou lightly with his foot. Jou merely grinned and continued eating. Yami stood up, totally forgetting about his lunch and walked down the hallway. This school was huge and Yami was lucky he still had twenty minutes to find what he was looking for. Even though he was not entire sure _what _he was looking for. He passed a few windows that only showed him the heavy rain and thunder that was still ongoing. Yami sighed at the sight. He only had two classes left and he could tell that the rain was not going to stop anytime soon. He regretted walking to school that morning instead of taking the buss.

"Stupid rain," Yami muttered grumpily, still looking out of the window. He glared daggers at the dark grey clouds, as if that was going to stop the heavy rain from falling. His eyes fell on his reflection in the window and his eyes widened. The boy was standing next to him again, looking at him with tears in his eyes. Yami stopped walking and kept looking at the boy. The blood ran over his black tuxedo and was dripping on the floor, just like it had been dropping on the restroom's floor. It created a small pool of pure crimson liquid, it was almost impossible to look away.

_"Atemu?"_ Yami's eyes softened immediately at hearing that same name again. It had to be an important name, he had to find out who this person was so he could help the other. He shook his head and kept himself from turning, he did not want to take that risk again, he had to talk to him.

"No, my name is Yami," he whispered, his voice almost being overpowered by the pouring rain. The boy's eyes lost their light completely and looked at the ground. He placed his hand over the gaping wound and started fading away. "N-no! Wait!" But it was too late. The boy had already left and Yami groaned. "Damn it!" Yami looked away and put his hands in his pockets. He kicked the wall with the side of his shoe and continued walking down the hallway.

He had missed his chance and was sure he was not going to see the boy that easily again. Now that he knew Yami was not the one he was looking for, he would probably leave him alone. There were so many questions popping into Yami's head that they were giving him a headache. He shook his head and rubbed his temples, trying to get rid of the annoying headache that was already worsening.

"A ghost boy who wanders around the school, calling me Atemu? You need to sleep more, Yami." He kept mumbling things to himself until he bumped into someone. Yami looked up and his eyes dropped at that very moment. His math teacher, Mr. Katsuki, was standing in front him with spilled coffee over his white shirt. His dark eyes flickered dangerously, he looked at Yami with a sympathetic look.

"My apologies, sir," Yami said absently. Though, from the inside, he could help but notice the small shred of happiness that was forming, he had never liked this teacher, anyway. Mr Katsuki had pulled out a small napkin out of his pocket and was carefully dabbing it on the brown stain on his white shirt. Yami could only watch, he was about to turn on his heel so he could return to the cafeteria, but stopped when his teacher opened his mouth.

"It's quite all right. Whom were you talking to? I don't see anyone around here. And you know that cellphones are not allowed." Yami shifted his weight onto his other foot and blinked. Mr. Katsuki flashed him a small smile that Yami did not trust, at all.

"I was talking to you, sir," Yami retorted dryly. Mr. Katsuki sighed and rolled his eyes at his student's remark.

"You were talking to someone when you were walking down the hallway. I could hear you cursing all the way down here," he said, his smile turning into a sneer. Yami's nose turned red and he cleared his throat awkwardly. He prayed that he was not in trouble because of this, cursing was strictly prohibited.

"It was nothing, sir. I bumped into the wall and the words kind of slipped out of my mouth. Again, I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Yami tried to walk away again, but his teacher stopped him by placing a large hand on his shoulder. The hand squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, something a teacher had never done to him before.

"Yami, it's okay. Talking to teachers is not a crime. If something's on your mind you know you can always talk to me." Yami looked at him over his shoulder and saw Mr. Katsuki smiling at him. This time, it felt like a real smile. Yami looked at the ground and thought for a moment. Maybe he knew something about Atemu. Yami knew Mr. Katsuki had not worked here for that long, but maybe he had heard about him. He looked back at him and gave his teacher a hopeful smile.

"Do you know anything about a student named Atemu, sir?" Mr. Katsuki frowned at him. Yami waited while he tried to escape from his teacher's grip that had grown into a rather painful grip instead of the gentle one it had been a couple of seconds ago. His nails were digging into Yami's skin and he winced when he felt the tips of the sharp nails poking at his flesh under his school uniform. Did Atemu do something that had upset him? Maybe Atemu was not that wonderful person Jou had told him about, and those rumors were only just rumors.

"I do, Yami," Mr. Katsuki suddenly said, stopping Yami's train of thoughts. The burning feeling in his shoulder had increased, Mr. Katsuki had truly dug his nails into Yami's skin, he could feel the small wounds. "I do." Yami raised an eyebrow, chewing the inside of his cheek.

"_Yes?_" Mr. Katsuki's eyes went from left to right as he was making sure that they were alone. The tip of his tongue darted out and licked his dry lips nervously. He was still holding the half empty cup of coffee in his hand, it was shaking lightly, the brown liquid had already cooled off, there was no steam coming from the cup, anymore.

"How did you—?" But Yami interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. He had rather not tell his teacher about that boy that he saw, he would probably receive weird looks.

"That's not important. Please, I want to know everything about this student," Yami said quickly. He had totally forgotten he was talking to a teacher, his tone was a bit forceful, he had never talked to a teacher like this before. Mr. Katsuki led Yami to one of his classrooms, he stayed silent during the small walk and his eyes avoid Yami's. Once they entered the classroom, Mr. Katsuki showed Yami the wall with a lot of pictures hanging on it. The grip on Yami's shoulder finally loosened and Yami tried to rub away the pain, he could not help but sigh in content, that had really hurt. Mr. Katsuki's fingers went upwards, looking at the pictures and Yami watched him carefully. His fingers finally stopped at the top picture and he looked at Yami.

"Take a look at this picture, Yami," he said. Yami nodded and stood on the tip of his toes to look at the picture. According to the picture, this was the class of 1960 and Yami's eyes widened when he saw the person in the front row. It was as if he was looking at a tanned version of himself. He could easily see the resemblance, the crazy hairstyle, his structure, even their smile. However, instead of blood red eyes, Atemu had violet colored eyes. "That's Atemu." Yami looked back, his face had dropped and his entire posture had changed dramatically. Well, now he knew why that boy was confusing him with Atemu.

"Please, tell me—" But Yami was interrupted by the shrill school bell, he let out a groan. Lunch break was over and he still had to get his bag that he had left in the cafeteria. His teacher looked at him and ran a hand through his already greying hair.

"Maybe later, Yami. I have to get to class now," he said. Yami bowed respectfully and watched him leave. He cursed that stupid bell in his mind. Jou had always wanted to attack the school bell with a hammer, and that plan was started to sound rather appealing to him. He noticed that he had been standing there for a full minute, thinking of ways to crush that bell, so he quickly started running so he would not be late for his next class. He reached his classroom, panting softly in the doorway, he made it. Everyone was still chatting happily, some girls were sitting on their desks, talking to their friends and laughing at each other's jokes. Jou walked over to him and handed him his bag.

"There you are, Yami. I thought you had drowned in the bathroom, or something!" Yami chuckled nervously and gave him a thankful smile, taking the bag.

"I'm alright, Jounouchi-kun. Thanks for bringing my bag." Jou put his arm around Yami's neck and brought him close, pressing their cheeks together teasingly.

"What would you do without me, eh?" Yami smiled and tried to get Jou off of him.

* * *

**Author's note: **Revised.****

Oh right, one more thing: Sadly, I am not _Kazuki Takahashi, _nope. Nopedy nopedy no.


	2. The Yearbook

Yami groaned when he heard his alarm clock beeping loudly into his ear. He put his pillow over his head, trying to muffle the annoying sound, but he could still hear it. He didn't even bother to open his eyes and blindly reached for his nightstand with his right hand. When he felt the cold metal under his fingers, he pressed the button. Yami rubbed his eyes, sitting up, the beeping had finally stopped.

However, there was another sound. Yami's body froze when he realized that someone was sniffling. He opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times to clear his blurry vision. His eyes shot open when he saw that crying boy again, sitting on the edge of his bed. Blood was everywhere, covering his bed completely. Yami backed away against the wall, he felt his heart beating painfully against his ribs.

"You scared the hell out of me!" Yami clamped his hand over his mouth, knowing his parents were still asleep and were not going to appreciate it if he woke them up. He felt something cold and wet against his lips. Yami pulled his hand away from his mouth and saw that his hands were covered in blood. His hands started shaking, his breath quickened and his heart was beating so fast that he thought it was going to jump out of his chest. He looked at the boy, who was coming closer to him. His pale hands on Yami's shaking ones scared Yami even more. He had crawled towards him, the weight of his pale body was now resting on his knees and hands. Blood was dripping on Yami's bare chest as the boy pressed him back against his bed. The bleeding wound grew darker, more blood was trickling down his tuxedo and onto Yami's skin.

_"Just give me the answer, Atemu.__ I want an answer!" _Tears were dripping on Yami's sweaty face. His squashed hands felt numb under the weight of the other, he could not move away even if he wanted to. He almost started crying, too as the lilac eyes stared at him, making him unable to think. It was as if they were hypnotizing him, he had to give him an answer, but he had no idea what he was supposed to say.

"I… No…" His entire body was shaking. The boy was still leaning over him and looked at him with his pleading eyes, he noticed there was some blood on his face, too. He leaned closer to Yami's face, his eyes still moist from the tears. The wound was now bleeding uncontrollably, the smell of blood drove Yami insane. He felt a nasty taste forming in the back of his throat, that had started burning painfully. He could feel the cold breath on his lips as the boy leaned closer and closer. He closed his eyes, waiting for what was coming.

* * *

Yami gasped for air when he woke up. He sat up, propping his elbows onto his knees that were still under his covers. The small droplets of sweat that were trickling down his neck made his body shiver even more. His hands reached for his chest, expecting to feel the cold blood. He let out a sigh of relief when he only felt the hot sweaty skin beneath his fingers. He ran his hand through his hair and wiped the sweat off his face.

"It was only just a dream, calm down," he muttered reassuringly to himself. He looked at his alarm clock, he still had a couple of minutes before it would start beeping. He turned it off and and swung his to the side so he could sit on the edge of the bed. He reached for the light switch that was next to his bed and narrowed his eyes when the fierce light penetrated his tired eyes. He stood up and headed for the bathroom that was attached to his room. He shook his head with a small sigh when he saw his own reflection.

His pale face was sweaty and his eyes were still a bit red and irritated. He took a quick shower, got dressed in his school uniform and went downstairs. His parents were probably still sleeping, but Yami didn't really care at the moment. The kitchen was teasingly inviting him to have some breakfast, but he did not trust his stomach at the moment. He put his shoes and coat on, breathing rather shakily. He saw the rain beating against the window and sighed. It had been raining for three days straight, it was as if it would never stop.

He grabbed his red shawl and wrapped it around his neck to make sure he would not catch a cold. He grabbed his bag that was leaning against the window next to the front door and left the house. It was only a ten minute walk, but he was already soaked to the bone after ten seconds. He started running as fast as he could, the rain beat his face to the point where it started to hurt. After a few minutes, he saw that the front doors of his school were only a couple of feet away, he quickened his pace, feeling relief washing over him. He opened the front door of the school and walked in, leaving a small trail of water on the floor. After he had put his wet coat in his locker, he noticed that his stomach was complaining to him by growling like a whale. He pushed the nagging feeling away, maybe it had not been such a good idea to skip breakfast, after all.

It was awfully quiet, no one was here, yet. He rolled his eyes when he looked at the big clock in the hall, noticing that class would not start for the next thirty minutes.

"I'm way too early," he muttered to himself. But now that he was all alone... An idea popped into his head, maybe he could talk to that boy again, now that no one was there to bother him and he had enough time to ask him some questions. Then again, maybe this boy was able to penetrate people's minds, he thought when he reminded himself of that dream again. "No, that was just a dream…" Yami closed his eyes and whispered, "I don't know if you can hear me, but I need you to be here. I can help you. I'm a friend."

The next thing was complete silence, the silence lasted for a couple of minutes, and he bit his lips nervously. He felt a bit stupid, this boy would probably ignore him, simply because he could not help him in any way. Then, he suddenly remembered something important. He turned back to his locker, seeing the small mirror in it that the school had put in every locker, like he had expected. Just like he had hoped, the boy appeared next to him, staring at him with a confused look in his eyes.

_"It's you," _he muttered sadly, his voice softly echoing through the walls. Yami's eyes softened again when he saw the fresh tears streaming down the boy's cheeks. He slowly nodded and kept looking at the boy's reflection, half expecting the boy to leap at him and pin him to his locker. Luckily, that was not the case, the boy stayed perfectly still, his eyes locked to his own.

"I…" Yami cleared his throat, he had not exactly planned this conversation and the words that wanted to come out got stuck in his throat. The only thing that kept him from walking away, was the fact that the boy was still there, waiting for him to talk. Thick red blood had dripped on the floor and was wetting his shoes, but he tried to ignore it. "I want to help you." The boy sniffed in response and shook his head, closing his eyes.

_"You can't. You're not Atemu." _More tears dripped onto the floor, some of them fell into the pool of blood and Yami felt that nasty taste in the back of throat again. The boy's voice was heartbreaking, it ripped through him like a sharp and painful knife. Something was really wrong here and he was going to find out what had happened. He felt tears burning behind his eyes, he could not contain himself any longer, he did not know why this was so important to him or why it was affecting him like this.

"I know, but I'm a friend. I want to help you," he said gently, trying to calm the boy down. When the pleading lilac eyes met his blood red ones, the burning sensation in his eyes increased and a small lone tear fell from his right eye. It slowly trickled down his cheek, until it reached his jaw and lingered there. "Give me a chance." Those words had pulled a trigger, the boy leaned closer to him, almost to the point where he was touching the other's back. The words came as a soft whisper and those were the exact same words he had heard in his dream.

_"Just give me the answer, _friend. _I want the answer." _He put emphasis on the word Yami had used, he had almost said it through gritted teeth before he closed his eyes. Before Yami could say anything the boy had already faded away. He groaned loudly and kicked his locker shut with his right foot, leaning on it afterwards. The mysteriousness of this ghost was frustrating him to no end, he had no idea how he was supposed to help him if he could not even have the answers that he needed; he did not even know his name.

"Great." He had not even bothered to ask his name, he was sure that that would help him a lot. There had to be a connection between him and Atemu, so if the teachers knew about Atemu, then they would also know who this boy was. Right at that moment his English teacher, Miss Kujaku opened the door of the hallway and walked up to him. Her high heels clicked against the grey tiles of the floor. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at her student, eyeing the locker behind him. Her long blonde hair flowed gently behind her when she stopped walking so she could look at him with her piercing violet eyes. He mentally hit himself; he should not have kicked his locker shut, he would never learn his lesson.

"You're early, Yami," she said coolly. Yami nodded slowly and looked at her. She frowned when he did, her eyes softened immediately and her whole cool attitude faded away. Her long manicured fingers reached for his face, he tried to back away, but she held him still with her other hand. Her hand came closer and placed itself on his cheek, she pursed her red lips at him. "Why are you crying?" Her voice was now soft and caring.

Yami's eyes went wide and he quickly wiped away the dried tear on his cheek, carefully pushing her hand away as he did so. He backed away and quickly brushed some of his blond bangs out of his eyes.

"It was nothing, ma'am. There was a strong wind this morning and it caused my eyes to water a bit, that's all," he said slowly, praising himself for the excuse he had quickly made up. He nervously pulled at his shirt while he looked away, his hands had started shaking, just like they did every time he told a lie. Miss Kujaku was really hard to convince, because she could see right through people, it was one of the things she used to her advantage to punish students who would lie to her about their homework. She kept looking at him, her eyes darted to his face and his hands, then back to him, as if she was trying to connect the small dots in her head. After a few seconds she pulled her hand back to her side and placed it on her hip, a small smile forming on her lips.

"How was your weekend, Yami?" Yami looked up with a small frown. He certainly had not expected _those _words. He had expected a lecture about the fact that the lockers were really expensive and that he should not kick them, because that was disrespectful. It was something Miss Kujaku would definitely do, she was a very straightforward person, she could be nice, too, but most of the time she took her job as a teacher very seriously. Yami quickly gathered himself together and answered her simple question.

"Perfect." Her smile trembled a bit, almost to the point where he was not sure if it would become a full smile or would turn into a frown. He had never lied to a teacher before, he knew that he was a bad liar, she could probably see right through his words. He had always had a good bond with her, maybe that was why she was not mad.

"Good, I'll see you in class." She patted his shoulder lightly and walked away. Her sweet perfume washed over him like a waterfall and he had to blink a couple of times to make sure his eyes were not going to water. He could not remember that her perfume was _that _strong. He sniffed, wiping at his nose with the back of his hand to get rid of the annoying tickle. He muttered something under his breath about his teacher before he grabbed his bag and headed for his classroom.

* * *

"Yami!" Said person was almost knocked out of his chair by a certain friend of his. Jounouchi had hit him on his back with such force that he had to hold onto his desk to make sure he would not lose his balance. He looked at his best friend and gave him a small smile.

"Hey," he greeted softly. Jounouchi put his arm around Yami's neck and pulled him close to him, laughing when he started to ruffle his hair playfully. He leaned closer with that typical grin and Yami already knew what he was going to say.

"Have any one night stands, Yami?" Just like he had expected, Jounouchi always asked him that after the weekends, probably because Yami got asked out a lot by the female students, even though he was not really interested in having a relationship with someone at the moment, let alone a one night stand. He laughed nervously and pushed Jounouchi off of him, running a hand through his messed up hair.

"Not really," he said, straightening his clothes so he could avoid his best friend's brown eyes. "What about you? Do you want to tell me something?" Jounouchi shrugged and took a seat on his desk, letting one of his legs dangle from the side. He leaned back and balanced on the balls of his hands, looking over his shoulder as students entered the classroom, chatting happily with each other. Since their teacher had not arrived, yet, they could still talk to each other.

"I bet you can get every girl you want, Yami. You've got the looks," Jounouchi said, grinning and still looking at the door of the classroom. He knew why Jounouchi was looking at the door, he was waiting for someone.

"...Thanks, Jounouchi-kun," Yami said awkwardly after blinking a couple of times. He put his head in his hands to avoid the curious stares he got from a couple of the female students. More students walked in and the last one to arrive was Miss Kujaku. As usual, Jounouchi cleared his throat and started combing his hair with his fingers, Yami snickered at his friend's action, receiving a playful glare.

During class, Yami noticed that Miss Kujaku was constantly looking at him with a worried look in her eyes. Apparently she had not forgotten about their little confrontation that morning and it was still bothering her. Yami tried to avoid her eyes by looking at his schoolbooks, but since she wrote a lot on the blackboard, he had to look up every now and then so he could copy her sentences. The class fell silent after a couple of minutes, their teacher had given them some exercises to do and the only sound that filled the air was the sound of scribbling pencils.

Yami was glad he could finally avoid his teacher's eyes and focused on his work, counting the minutes in his head. Finally, after a while the bell rang and everyone started talking again, putting their things away. Miss Kujaku cleared her throat so she could get her attention back, everyone looked at her.

"Alright, everyone. I suggest you finish those exercises, you will find the same kind of exercises in your test tomorrow. I wish you the best of luck. Oh and Yami." Yami slowly looked up from his bag, raising his eyebrows at her. He dropped his book next to his bag when he saw the look in her eyes, he was in trouble. "I want to talk to you for a minute." Everyone left, looking at Yami over their shoulders, whispering to each other and giving each other confused looks. Jounouchi elbowed him and whispered something in his ear, too.

"Lucky bastard." Yami rolled his eyes and pushed Jounouchi out of the classroom so they could have some privacy. Miss Kujaku took a seat behind her desk and folded her hands together, waiting patiently for Yami to close the door. After he had closed the door, he bit his lip nervously and took a seat on one of the desks in front of hers. She did not seem to mind that he was sitting on a desk and looked at him.

"Yami, if something is bothering you-" she started, but Yami interrupted her.

"There's nothing wrong, I'm perfectly fine," Yami said. She gave him a questionable look, which Yami answered with a sheepish smile. She clearly did not believe him, and was probably a bit startled that he had suddenly interrupted her. She shook her head a bit and leaned forward, so they were a bit closer.

"Come on, I've known you for two years now, Yami. I know when something is bothering my students," she pushed. Yami looked at her, not saying anything, he was not about to burst. She sighed in defeat, put her hands on her desk so she could push herself up and closed her eyes. "Well, you know where to find me." She walked away after she had grabbed her bag, leaving Yami alone. He sighed and put his hand over his face.

"She doesn't need to know," he murmured against his hand. He jumped off the table and left the classroom, too. The rest of the day was not as hard as his first class had been, everything seemed to be fine and he had no problem with paying attention in class. Jounouchi would give him odd looks every now and then, but he shrugged them off. He knew Jounouchi would be curious about the fact that he had to stay behind in class to talk to a teacher. Yami was a good student, he was not a straight A student, but his grades were never bad. Most of the time, he would pay attention in class, so the teachers were happy to have him as a student. This was definitely the first time a teacher wanted to talk to him after class and he got a lot of weird looks for it. Students were still whispering things behind his back, but he did not really care, he was not in trouble, or anything.

At the end of the day, Yami was glad he could finally go home and focus on other things. After he had grabbed his books and put them in his bag, he started walking towards the doors, but someone grabbed his arms and pulled him back.

"Gotcha!" Jounouchi pushed Yami's shoulders against the lockers, but not enough to hurt him. Yami was slightly disoriented at the sudden action and blinked at his friend, who leaned closer to him. "Now you're going to answer my question. How did you do that, Yami?" Yami blinked again and he put his hands up in defense. His bag landed on the ground and fell open, his books slid out and he huffed.

"Did what?" Jounouchi pushed him further into the lockers, giving him a look. Fear was starting bubble up within him, Jounouchi did not look very happy. His brown eyes flickered dangerously, and Yami knew him a bit too well to know that Jounouchi was not the nicest person when he was angry.

"What did Mai want?" It took Yami a moment to realize that he was talking about Miss Kujaku, Mai was her first name and Jounouchi always used her first name whenever he was talking about her. Now that Yami knew why Jounouchi was doing this, he dropped in hands and gave him a smirk. Miss Kujaku was one of his friend's weaknesses and he had liked her from the very first day. Yami always liked to tease him about it, it was something that had been going on for _years_. Jounouchi knew damn well that he never stood a chance, because a teacher and a student could never be more than a teacher and a student, but being the stubborn person that he was, he had said that he would never give up.

"Why should I tell you?" Yami teased, already forgetting that he was the one pinned to the lockers. Jounouchi's eyes lingered on his for a moment, before he sighed and loosened his grip so Yami could stand up straight again. Jounouchi put his hands in his pockets, lightly tapping his foot against the tiles. He did not need to give Yami an explanation for his actions, they usually did not talk about this subject, Jounouchi had enough to deal with in his life and Yami did not want to cause any more trouble. He put his arm around Jounouchi's shoulder and gave him a wink to cheer him up.

"Do you really think I'm that cruel, Jounouchi-kun? We just talked about homework, that's all." He was not ready to tell him what they had really talked about, this was good enough for now. Jounouchi looked up at him, his usual smile back on his face. He gently pushed Yami's arm from his shoulder and fully turned to him.

"Well, that's a relief, but you're still cruel." Jounouchi pushed Yami away so he could get a head start and headed outside. Yami quickly knelt down so he could put his books back in his bag and ran after him, laughing softly to himself. However, he was stopped when someone grabbed his hand in a gentle grip. Yami turned and came face-to-face with his other best friend, Anzu. His face dropped slightly, he always grew nervous around Anzu, because he knew that she also had a weakness. And that weakness happened to be him.

"Hey!" She put her other hand behind her back and gave innocent look in her eyes, brushing her brown bangs out of her face. A red flush appeared on his nose when he saw the look that she was giving him. He looked down at their hands, it was as if her hand was glued to his own, the gentle grip was not that gentle as he thought it was. Her long pale fingers were playfully tapping the inside of his hand.

"H-hi, Anzu," he muttered softly, looking back at her with a small smile. She let go of his hand and used it to reach for her bag that hung over her shoulder. He eyed her bag curiously as she got out a large blue book with Domino High on the cover. She smiled and held it out to him, her eyes sparkling brightly.

"Here, the new yearbook." Yami stared at the cover, not even noticing that Anzu was still staring at him with her sparkling blue eyes. He took the book and flipped it open, skipping a bit through the pages. New and old pictures of students, clubs, the school grounds and a lot of other things were in it. They gave the students a new edition every year, though he was not that interested in it. "Yami?" He looked up with a blank look in his eyes.

"Hm?" She leaned closer to him, so close that their noses were almost touching. Yami's eyes widened in horror and he quickly looked away so her lips ended up on his cheek and not on his mouth. She pulled back, with a shy smile on her lips, a small blush was forming on her cheeks and her eyes darted to the ground. Yami looked back at her, not sure what to say. She looked up at him, tightening her grip on her schoolbag and smiled sadly.

"...Well, I'll see you later, then." She hung her head and brushed past him, making sure to touch his shoulder with her arm. Yami felt guilt bubbling up in his body, he did not want to hurt her, but he did not really have a choice. He did not feel the same way about her, he loved her as a friend, nothing more. Yami ignored the guiltiness and looked back at the yearbook. He leaned against the lockers, opening it again. He had raised his foot to put it on the lockers to get into a more comfortable position as he stared at the pages. A minute went by and he was still standing there, thinking absently to himself.

And then it hit him. He had to hurry if he wanted to catch up with Jounouchi so he pushed himself off the lockers and he ran outside as fast as he could. He ran toward the school gates and looked around the corner, praying that he could still catch up with his friend. He saw a little blue dot with blond hair walking down the street. Yami took off again with the yearbook still in his hands. He called his name when he was a couple of feet away from him and Jounouchi turned around, blinking.

"There you are, Yami. I thought you did not want to hang out, anymore, so I started walking." Yami stopped in front of him, placing his hands on his knees, panting. Jounouchi frowned and placed a hand on Yami's back, rubbing it soothingly. "Are you alright, bud?" Yami looked up, still panting lightly. His cheeks were flushed and his heart was beating rapidly against his chest. He cleared his throat and started talking.

"Sorry that you had to wait… but Anzu… showed up," he croaked out. Jounouchi smirked immediately, knowing Anzu had a crush on Yami. This was something Jounouchi used to _his_ advantage, Yami did not mind, they always teased each other about their love lives. But he needed to focus now. "And gave me…this." Yami held the yearbook in front of his face. Jounouchi grabbed it and opened it, flipping through the pages. He looked a bit unimpressed.

"Ah, the new yearbook. And you wanted to show me this so badly, because...?" Yami laughed softly and shook his head, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I showed you this, because I'm going to need you for a mission." Yami smirked when he saw the mischievous glint in Jounouchi's eyes.

* * *

**Author's note: **Revised.


	3. The Mission

After he had had that little talk with Jounouchi, he noticed that the sun had already begun to sink. They quickly said their goodbyes and Yami went back to school for a little. When he got home, he heard his parents talking happily with each other from the other side of the wall that separated the hall and the living room. He closed the door behind him and let his bag slip over his shoulder so it could land on the floor. His hands started untying the scarf around his neck and he quitely looked around the corner to see his parents sitting in the living room, smiling at each other.

His beautiful mother, Elena, with dark hair that reached her thin shoulders and violet eyes, was telling her husband a story. His handsome father, Aknamkanon, was holding back his laughter with tears in his dark green eyes, his brown shaking along with his head. When Elena had finished her little story, they both burst out laughing, leaning on the chairs to keep themselves from falling on the carpeted floor.

Yami could not help but smile at the sight. He loved the way his parents never got into fights and were still madly in love with each other after all those years. He slowly unbuttoned his coat, not wanting to interrupt his parents' small moment. He knew they barely had these conversations with each other, both of his parents had a very busy life. Elena was one of the best lawyers in the country, it was completely normal that she would receive at least ten phone calls a day and had to run out the door to help a client. His father was the typical businessman who ran his own, very successful, company, this was why he constantly had to leave for business trips and sometimes had to take his wife with him to help him.

Once Yami had hung up his coat, he heard his father say something between his laughter.

"I can't believe she still had them!" He snickered and walked into the living room, leaning against the wall. His mother looked like a teenage girl, her pale cheeks had a rosy glow and her eyes glistened with tears of joy. The girly giggles that came out of her mouth made her sound at least ten years younger. She had never looked old in Yami's eyes, she acted like a mature woman, but sometimes she had those little childish moments that made him smile at the thought.

"Good evening," he said casually, interrupting their laughter. Both of them wiped at their eyes and looked up to see their son standing there. "What's so funny?" Elena carefully pushed herself up from the huge red chair she was sitting in and brushed his bangs out of his face with a small smile on her lips to greet him.

"Welcome home and you don't want to know, love. Believe me," she said, still smiling. Yami raised his eyebrows before he took a seat next to his father on the couch. Elena followed him back and sat on the arm of the couch next to her husband. Aknamkanon put his hand on her knee, absently caressing it.

"Try me," Yami said with a smirk. Elena shook her head defiantly, reaching for Aknamkanon's fingers and squeezing them.

"Maybe later, Yami." Yami sighed and leaned against the back of the dark green velvet couch. Aknamkanon put an arm around his shoulder and pulled him close so Yami was leaning against his shoulder. He lightly leaned towards his father's chest to get more comfortable and closed his eyes. After a while, he felt the vibration of Aknmankon's chest as he started speaking.

"So, how was your day, son?" Yami turned his head upwards so he could look at him and saw the warm smile his father was giving him. He smiled back and sadly noticed that he could not get the words past his lips. He trusted his parents, he always told them everything, except when it came to real personal things, that was when he talked to Jounouchi, and now he had not even told Jounouchi about the incident in the restroom. Instead of telling the truth, he looked back at the wall large television that was in front of them and folded his arms over his chest.

"Nothing to report," he muttered softly. Elena looked at them, blinking a couple of times before she muttered something about dinner and went to the kitchen. Aknamkanon just shrugged and reached for the book that was laying on its side on the table in front of the couch. He put his reading glasses on and started reading the book with one hand, the other hand still resting comfortable on his son's shoulder. Yami looked at his hands, still debating in his head wether he should tell them, or not. He carefully stood up, putting Aknamkanon's arm over his head and followed his mother's steps to the kitchen. "Mom?"

Elena turned to him with that typical kind smile of hers. Yami opened his mouth, but his mind stopped him from telling her. He could not do it, his instincts told him it was best if he kept it a secret for a little while longer. Besides, his parents had enough to worry about, his mother would probably not believe him, or would be in shock. He closed his mouth again and shook his head, smiling sheepishly.

"Nothing. Never mind," he said softly. Elena's eyes softened, she put her kitchen tools back on the kitchen dresser and walked up to him so she could gentle run the back of her fingers over his cheek. It was a small habit that she had developed over the years, Yami never knew what to think of it, he always felt like leaning into the small touch, but he would not let himself.

"Alright, but if you need me you know where to find me, right?" Yami nodded in response, looking at his feet so he could avoid her eyes. She planted a small kiss on the place where she had been caressing him and put her hands on his chest, playfully pushing him out of the kitchen. "Now, I'm sure you have a lot of homework. Dinner will be ready in an hour. Oh and don't forget, your father and I have to go to a meeting tonight." Yami nodded, grinning.

"I know, you told me that yesterday." Elena chuckled and closed the door between the kitchen and the living room so she could begin. Yami went back to the hall, grabbed his bag and went upstairs to his room. Aknamkanon nodded approvingly at Yami, which he returned with a small shake of his head. Both of his parents were pretty strict when it came to school work. The very first day of high school had been hard for Yami, he had to work hard for his grades and ever since, his parents expected him to work hard for school. The small trip to his room was not very long, but not very short, either. Since his parents had very well-paid jobs, he lived in one of the biggest houses in Domino City. After he had climbed the stairs, he had to walk to the very end of the hallway to reach his room. His wooden door was slightly open, just like he had left it that morning (he had not bothered to close it), and gave it a small push with his shoulder.

When he had locked the door behind him, his phone started vibrating in his pocket. He threw his bag onto his bed, that was on the other side of the room and reached for his pocket. He flipped his phone open and read the display, seeing that it was Jounouchi. Letting out a small chuckle, he pressed the green button and held the device against his ear.

"That was quick." His friend laughed on the other side.

_"Well, what did you expect?"_ Yami shook his head to himself as he walked to his desk and sat down on it. He reached for his windows and closed it, his desk and books had gotten a bit wet because of the never ending rain and he could not appreciate that. After that, he closed to curtains and put on his desk light.

"So, you know the plan, right?" It was silent on the other side, Yami could imagine him rolling his eyes, or something else to show how offended he was.

_"Yes, of course I do. I'll be there at nine."_

"Good, I really need to do this, Jounouchi-kun."

_"Of course, bud. I was just wondering why you didn't ask Mai. You always get along pretty well and I'm sure she wouldn't mind to do it for you. Even though she can be rather suspicious about certain things." _Yami's eyes darted to the ground, he swung one of his legs back and forth a bit, trying to distract himself. Asking Miss Kujaku to do this for him would be very risky, she was already on to something, he did not want it to go further than that. Instead of asking her, he had asked some of his other teachers and got disappointed over and over again.

"Already did. They won't give it to me, it was pretty pointless to ask. I do understand why they were so stubborn, though. That's why we need to do this." He heard Jounouchi sigh on the other side and clear his throat.

_"Well, alright. I'll see you in a few hours, then." _Yami reminded him of something important, which Jounouchi responded with a grunt and hung up. He chuckled and put his phone on his desk in case he would receive another call. He got up from his desk so he could grab his bag and get his books out. With a small sigh, he started studying for the upcoming test Miss Kujaku had reminded them of. English was not one of the subjects he was really good at, he had always had some trouble with the grammar and letters. The minutes ticked by, time went by so quickly that it was as if the bright red numbers on his alarm clock were dancing. He was so focused on his work that Elena's voice almost made him jump out of his skin.

"Dinner's ready!" After practically falling out of his chair, Yami unlocked his door and went downstairs. His parents were waiting for him and smiled when he entered the dining room. His father sat at the head of the table as usual, and Elena sat at the end. "There you are, dear. You don't mind cleaning the kitchen, do you? Aknamkanon and I have to leave early, we won't have time for it, anymore." Yami let out a small annoyed grunt, taking a seat between them.

"No, I don't mind." Elena chuckled and gave Yami a wink before all of them started eating. Dinner was rather quiet, usually everyone would talk about their day or talk about an event that was coming up. After all, living the busy lives his parents lived, there was always _something_ to talk about. But now, it looked like Elena and Aknamkanon were both trying to break a world record by eating their dinner as fast as they could. Yami decided to break the silence and loudly cleared his throat to gain their attention.

Aknamkanon looked up from his plate, answering him with a small, "Hm?" Yami frowned and gave a nod toward his mother who was eating like there was no tomorrow. If Yami had not known better, he would have thought she was going to choke any moment. His father merely shrugged and continued eating just as fast. Yami decided to drop the subject now that he knew he was not going to get an answer.

"Finished!" Yami almost dropped his fork when his mother suddenly stood up after a few minutes of complete silence. "Aknamkanon, we have to go. We can't be late." Aknamkanon nodded and handed her his empty plate. Elena took Yami's plate, too and placed them in the sink, even though Yami had barely finished it. Elene gave him a kiss on his forehead and Aknamkanon gave him a loud smack on his shoulder.

"We'll be back around twelve, don't wait up, Yami. You need your sleep for school." Elena gave him another kiss before they grabbed their bags and left. When they closed the door, it was as if it was even quieter than a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, Yami was used to it, so without complaint, he stood up and started bringing the other plates to the sink. After he had cleaned the table, he started putting the plates, cups and everything else in the dishwasher. Everything that did not fit was left in the sink, which was already filled with warm water and soap. The clock that was hanging on the wall above the fridge told him that he still had a little over an hour before Jounouchi would arrive.

His mother had forgotten to close to the curtains before she left, Yami looked out of the window and saw that it was still raining. It had even gotten worse, loud thunder rolls came from the dark sky and sudden white flashes caused goosebumps to appear on his skin. He put the towel and the dishes down and grabbed the end of the curtain so he could cover up the window. Just when his hands went back to the towel, he heard a loud crash above his head.

"This is not so good," he mumbled to himself. He quickly finished cleaning the kitchen, grabbed a small knife and headed upstairs to finish his homework. After a while, he noticed that the words in the book were twirling in front of his tired eyes, so he gave up and started unbuttoning his shirt so he could change. He threw his closet open and walked in, the large white room was filled with tons of clothes that his mother had given him over the years. At least she had good taste and barely gave Yami something that he would never wear during the weekends. He searched for some black clothes and put them on, he even put on a small black cap, too to cover up his wild hair.

He grabbed a flashlight and the knife he had brought with him to put it in his other bag. He was sitting on his knees, zipping up his bag when his phone started vibrating again. Yami flew from the ground and reached for his phone so he could flip it open. He did not even have the chance to say something as the person on the other side started yelling at him.

_"If your parents are still home, let me hide in your closet, or something, because I'm _soaked!_" _Yami could not contain his laughter at his friend's complaint and turned the lights off in his room and in the hallway. He went downstairs and opened the door to reveal a very drenched Jounouchi who was holding his phone next to his ear. The rain was dripping from his nose and his blond hair was sticking to his wet face. Yami put the phone in his pocket and stepped aside so Jounouchi could enter his house. His friend was still in his normal clothes, they were completely wet, but he had brought a little plastic bag with him which was still dry.

"I hate you for this. I can't believe I came all the way over here!" Jounouchi took off his wet clothes and started changing into the black clothes, like Yami had instructed him to do. Yami snickered, closing the door when he walked over to Jounouchi, who was glaring daggers at him, but Yami shrugged it off. He knew Jounouchi could never stay mad at him, even if he wanted to do, and getting wet because of the rain for your best friend was not _that _bad in his eyes. Though, he did feel bad when he saw that Jounouchi was shivering after he had taken off his pants and shirt, his skin was bright red.

"I'm sorry I made you do that, I'm really grateful for this, Jounouchi-kun. You know that I can't do this alone," Yami said softly with a sheepish smile. Jounouchi grinned and snatched Yami's cap from his head. He tried to get it back, but failed miserably, this was one of the things that Yami truly hated about himself. He was pretty small for the average 16-year-old teenager, Jounouchi often used to his advantage, such as holding the hat above his head so Yami could not even brush the tips of his fingers over it. Apparently this little thing had cheered Jounouchi up, Yami thought that his friend's smirk was going to make his face split in two.

"Why do you want it so badly, Yami? I mean, what are you going to do with it?" Yami finally managed to get his cap back and helped Jounouchi with his clothes. He was almost done, which was good, they had no time to lose.

"I'll explain everything later, Jounouchi-kun. Don't worry," Yami said with a smile. Jounouchi stared at him, until he pursed his lips and turned away so he could put on his leather jacket, muttering a small approval under his breath. "Thank you." Yami turned to close all of the curtains in the living room and turned his head over his shoulder when the other started talking again.

"Aren't your parents around? I didn't ring the doorbell because I thought they were still here." Yami walked around to make sure he had closed every curtain on this floor and then started turning off the lights. It became so dark after he had turned off a couple of lights that he could barely see what he was doing.

"No, that's why I want to do it now. I knew my parents had an important meeting tonight, meaning they were not going to be home." He left the lights in the hall alone so they could still look at each other. Yami walked to the stairs and checked upstairs if all the lights were turned off. "What did you tell yours?" Jounouchi still had not answered when Yami walked back to the hall to face him, his ears had gone red, though.

"I told them I was going to some nightclub with you." Yami frowned. They had never even _gone_ to a nightclub in their entire lives. Jounouchi loved going out in his free time, but never dragged Yami with him, mainly because Yami was more of an indoor person. Yami could not imagine his best friend in a nightclub, it would be very... wrong.

"And they believed that?" he asked incredulously. Jounouchi's lips moved upwards until they formed a grin that almost reached his eyes. He leaned forward, with his hands behind his back and winked at him.

"Of course they did. They know I'm single," he said. Yami chuckled at the odd remark, he could not believe Jounouchi had actually said that out loud. He grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. They had no more time to lose.

"Come on, let's go. If the rain's gonna keep up like this, we'll have to bring an umbrella with us."

"No shit, Sherlock," Jounouchi said, grabbing one of the umbrellas from the umbrella stand. Then, he turned to Yami who was now grabbing the keys. "Wait, I saw one of your parents' cars, why don't we just drive?" Yami opened the door and pushed Jounouchi out of his house with a small roll of his eyes. He locked the door behind him, and turned off the light that was above their front door.

"Firstly, neither of us knows how to drive. Secondly," he turned around and grabbed the umbrella from the other's hands. "don't you think someone will notice us if we parked a car in front of the school?" Jounouchi hung in his head and followed Yami towards the road.

"You're right, I forgot," he mumbled awkwardly. Unfortunately, Jounouchi had grabbed one of the smallest umbrellas that his mother always used to walk to her car, it was barely enough to cover up one person, let alone two rather broad teenage boys. Jounouch was practically pressing his body against Yami's to avoid the huge raindrops and Yami was not quite used to this kind of contact.

"Why did you grab our smallest umbrella, Jounouchi-kun?" Yami grumbled. He felt Jou's nervous chuckle in the back of his neck, he shivered, as if it was not cold enough outside.

"It was too dark to see them, Yami. Stop sulking," he defended lamely. He decided to drop the pointless subject and let it slip, it was not that bad, after all. The rain was pounding loudly on their umbrella and the flashes were making Jounouchi jump every now and then. They had to walk slowly to make sure neither of them would get wet, Yami had hoped that he would never have to take these 'baby-steps' ever again, but he swallowed his pride and let it happen.

After what felt like an eternity to Yami, they were finally standing in front of the doors of their school. The umbrella looked like it was going to break any second, at least they were still dry, the baby-steps were not for nothing. Jounouchi took the knife from Yami's bag and put the tip of the blade into the lock, trying to force it open. Yami was looking around the corners to be sure nobody was watching them; there was no one except for a black cat that was looking for shelter. He turned back to Jounouchi who was still struggling with the lock.

"And you told me you were good at this kind of stuff?" Yami retorted dryly after he had blinked a couple of times. Jounouchi sighed through his nose and shot him a look that almost made Yami flinch.

"Stop mocking me and help me." Yami grinned and placed his hand on the knife, twisting it around for a while. He felt that he was touching something with the tip, and kept turning it to the left until they heard a soft _click._ "Finally! Told you I was good at this stuff." Yami shook his head, snickering and shoved Jounouchi inside. They grabbed their flashlights and turned them on, revealing the deserted hallway, just like Yami had hoped. He turned to Jounouchi, who was looking rather nervous.

"Let's go look in the teacher's lounge, I'm sure we will find something there," Yami said, grabbing the fabric of Jounouchi's shirt and dragging him toward the lounge. Jounouchi struggled a bit, not liking the idea of being dragged, but stopped when Yami shot him a fierce glare. He still had the knife in his other hand and started working on the lock again as soon as they had reached the teacher's lounge. Yami was keeping a lookout for any signs of life, but they were alone still.

"It's open," Jounouchi whispered after a small while. He gave the door a small push, it gave a loud creak, Yami was truly grateful that no one else was there to hear it. Jounouchi walked into the room and looked around the corners, beckoning Yami to follow him. "You know, Yami. I really like you, you're really cool and stuff, but to go to school at night just for some stupid yearbook edition is completely insane." Yami followed him, closing the door quietly behind him.

"I know it sounds silly, but trust me, it's really important, and don't forget, I want to look for the files, too." They walked around for a while with their flashlights rapidly moving around to look for the other yearbook editions. There was not a lot to see in the lounge, there was a large table which was surrounded by a numerous amount of chairs. An old coffee machine was in the corner, it looked a bit dusty, but still good enough to use. There were several bookcases in the back of the large room, along with a couple of cupboards and drawers. Jounouchi started groaning after a couple of minutes and he walked to the door, leaning on the wood with his right shoulder. Yami kept looking, he was determined to find answers, if his teachers were not going to give him any, then he had to do it himself.

"Can't we just turn on the lights? My eyes are getting tired, I'm sure it'll be a lot easier that way." Jounouchi reached for the light switch and Yami was just in time to stop him by grabbing his wrist in a firm, yet gentle grip.

"No! I don't want to get caught!"

"Yami, nobody's here! Who's gonna catch us, the mice?"

"What if there is someone here and they see light coming from this room? I don't want to take any risks, okay?" Jounouchi pulled his wrist out of Yami's grip, giving him an odd look. He gave him a small nod after a while and went back to the bookcases in the back of the room.

"Fine, let's get it over with." Yami laughed softly, following him to the bookcases.

"I thought you loved doing these things," he said, letting his fingers slide across the spines of the books. He heard Jounouchi mutter something under his breath, but not loud enough for him to hear it. He raised his flashlight to get a better look and noticed that he was probably not going to find something useful in the area. "It has to be here somewhere. Don't they keep at least one edition of every year?" Jounouchi muttered again, causing Yami to chuckle softly.

"Whatever, just keep looking." Yami sank to his knees so he could take a closer look at the books there. Jounouchi had decided that he was not going to gain Yami's attention by muttering things, so he kept quiet and, like Yami, looked for the yearbook. Yami slowly let his fingers wander over the backs of the books, some of them were dusty and the bindings were fragile, some of them were still new, apparently school had not bothered to sort them by year.

The only sound that was filling the quiet air, was the loud rumbling of the thunder and rain in the background. He did not know how long he was sitting on his knees, but they were starting to hurt and shake under his weight. There were so many books in this row, he could not stop looking until he found something, so he rubbed his sore legs and looked at the other bookcases.

"Hey, I think I found something!" Yami immediately jumped up and rushed to Jounouchi's side, placing a nervous hand on his shoulder.

"Shush!" Yami whispered when he stood next to him, his face all sweaty and pale. His friend sighed dramatically.

"Too bad I didn't bring my stereo with me," he said dryly. He received a small shove in response, he ignored it, since he was used to it, and turned to Yami, who was giving him a look. Even though Yami felt like he was standing on top of a huge building and looking down at the ground beneath him, he still wanted to know what had caused Jounouchi to yell like that.

"What did you find?" he breathed. Jounouchi turned back to the bookcase, touched a couple of the books with the tip of his fingernail until he reached a certain book. He pulled it out with a small grin and held it in front of Yami's face teasingly.

"Isn't this what you were looking for?" Yami shined the flashlight on the cover. The picture was very old, the colors were barely visible and there was something in the corner… A big smile appeared on Yami's lips.

"1960's edition… Jounouchi-kun, you're the best! This is exactly what we're looking for!" Jounouchi mirrored Yami's smile and patted his own chest after Yami had taken the book out of his hands.

"That's why you needed me, right? I am the best," he said proudly. Yami smiled at him and laid the dusty book on the table. He sat down and flipped it open so he could look at the pages. Jounouchi leaned over his shoulder so he could look, too. "So, who are we looking for again?" He still had not told Jounouchi about the boy, he was not sure if he had to tell him what happened in the restroom, so he would keep it simple. It was late, Jounouchi probably would not bother to ask too many questions, anyway.

"I don't know his name, so we're going to look at the pictures. This boy looks exactly like me, only younger and more…" Yami snapped his fingers to find the right word. "Childlike?" Jounouchi leaned forward and pressed his cheek against Yami's in a teasing way. Yami's eyes softened at the action, it was a sign that they were still very close friends and he liked it.

"You aren't looking for yourself, are you? I didn't know you were that old, Yami." Yami could not help the smile that was forming on his lips when Jounouchi tried to lighten the mood, like always. It was something he always did when things got pretty serious, like now. He gently pried Jounouchi away and focused on the book.

"Just look at the pictures, alright?" Yami started flipping through the pages, he skipped the same old information about their school and looked for the school pictures. Jounouchi kept leaning on his shoulder, examining the book just like Yami was doing. When he had reached the school pictures, he started to slow down and carefully turned the pages over, studying every picture. He had to admit that it was quite fascinating to look at the old pictures, he was not used to these kinds. After a while, Jounouchi laid his hand on top of the book to stop Yami from turning the pages.

"Wait!" Yami gently removed Jounouchi's hand and looked at the picture that lay hidden beneath his friend's hand. His eyes widened; it was Atemu. "Wow, that's really freaky, the guy looks just like you! And you told me you weren't looking for yourself!" Yami examined the picture, taking his time to drink in all the details. Atemu did look exactly like him, it was almost as if he was looking at an old picture of himself. Those hypnotizing violet eyes were staring at him rather cockily, apparently Atemu knew he had good looks and was not afraid to show it.

A picture was worth a thousand words and this was a perfect example, Yami could easily tell that Atemu was a nice person, the smile on his face was not entirely arrogant, it also had a bit of kindness in it. His tan skin made him stand out between all the other pale students, and so did his unusual hairstyle. One of his blond bangs was almost covering one of his violet eyes, giving him a playful and fierce look. Yami's eyes softened when he tore his gaze away from the picture.

"This is not the person we're looking for, Jounouchi-kun." Jounouchi leaned on Yami's shoulders with his elbows, whining like a bored little toddler.

"Aw, come on. Can't we pretend we were looking for this guy? I want to go home." He looked at this watch and let out a sigh. "We've been here for two hours now. Take the damn book with you!" Yami looked at him and frowned, as if he could not believe what he had said.

"I can't just take this home with me. They'll notice and as you know, it's not mine," he said. "You can go home if you want, I'm staying here. I still need to look at his file, _if_ I find out his name." Jounouchi let out another sigh and leaned on Yami's shoulder again, burying his face in the back of his shirt. Yami continued turned over the pages, carefully examining every picture that crossed his path, he half expected Jounouchi to leave, and half expected him to stay.

"No, I'm staying. You won't survive without me." Yami was still for a moment, not sure how to respond to that. Jounouchi had a tendency to joke around and Yami was not always sure wether he appreciated it, or not. In this case, he decided to drop the subject and reached for his friend's hands, patting them.

"Thanks, Jounouchi-kun. I really owe you one." Jou leaned further onto him, fortunately Yami was quite used to it and did not mind. He continued to turn the pages over while Jou started mumbling again. All kinds of pictures flew past his eyes, his mind almost could not handle it. Domino High School had always been a big school with a lot of students, and now he had the chance to see every single student that had walked through those doors 50 years ago. Yami was so absorbed in the pictures that he barely heard the words Jounouchi had said.

"Yeah, yeah. Just keep looking, will you?" Yami chuckled after he realized that Jou was growing impatient. He turned the page again and his eyes almost popped out of his head. Two large eyes were staring at him through the dusty page, almost speaking to him without using actual words. He recognized him as the boy who had been standing behind him several days ago. Jounouch was probably not looking at the book anymore because he did not react, at all.

"I think I found him."

"Hm? Oh, wow..." Jounouchi raised his head from Yami's head and leaned over his shoulder so he could examine the picture. Both of them were speechless for quite some time, two pairs of eyes kept staring at the picture, as if they were almost waiting for it to come alive and start moving around. Obviously that was not going to happen, so Yami closed his mouth, which had fallen open during the staring session and placed the tips of his fingers on the page, not wanting to damage it.

"I know," Yami said quietly. He looked around for the name, it was directly underneath the picture. The name had slightly faded over the years, but it was still readable. "Yugi Mutou." Jounouchi pulled back and walked around the table, stretching his arms above his head.

"Yugi, eh? Fits him." Yami nodded in agreement, his eyes never leaving the picture. Yugi was smiling happily, showing a straight row of white teeth, a light healthy glow was on his round cheeks and one of blond bangs was tucked behind his ear so it would not be in the way. There was so much happiness in his large eyes that Yami could hardly imagine the other side he had seen of him. Just like Atemu's picture, this one had a lot to say, too. If someone would see this picture, they would probably not be able to picture Yugi crying. He had not noticed that he was staring at the picture until Jounouchi knocked on his head, snapping him out of his daze.

"Ow!" Yami reached for his head and gave Jounouchi a look, who merely grinned at him.

"Are you going to stare at that picture forever or are you going to look for his files?" Rubbing the now sore spot on his head, Yami looked away, feeling very hot and stupid.

"R-right," he mumbled more to himself than to Jounouchi. He shoved his hand under the book and closed it, dust flew out of it as he did and he quickly gave it back to Jounouchi before more dust could escape from it. He stood up and shoved the chair back in place, to make sure there were not any tracks. Jou was already leaning over the drawers, his slender fingers flipping through the files. Yami kept walking around the room, looking for nothing in particular, there was not much to look at, anymore. He had always wondered what the teacher's lounge would look like and he was not impressed if he was going to be honest with himself. He heard Jounouchi reading the names out loud,

"M…Mutou…Mutou... Matsuki, Mizumaki, Morishita? Yami, I'm hungry, did you bring anything to eat?"

"Katsuya!"

"Oh, boy, first name. Alright, alright. Mut…Mutou!" Jounouchi pulled out the files and handed them to Yami.

"Thank you." Yami placed his thumb on the pages and pressed it down so he could flip through them. "Hm, honor student, never skipped class, the perfect pupil, eh… _What?!_" Yami dropped the files, causing the papers to fly all over the place. Jounouchi clamped his hand over Yami's mouth and looked around with fear in his eyes. Yami's hands were shaking so badly that it almost looked like they had a mind of their own.

"It's past twelve, smart ass! Everyone's probably asleep! Do you want to get caught?"

_Snap. _Something popped in Yami's head his wide eyes widened even more. Jounouchi stepped back, removing his hand from Yami's mouth, frowning when he saw the look on his friend's face. Yami pressed his hands over his forehead, breathing heavily through his nose.

"My parents said they would be home around twelve. If my mother goes up to my room and finds out I'm not there…" Yami sucked in his bottom lip and dug his teeth in it, Elena was not a very nice woman when she got mad. They never had fights, but Yami knew in what kind of person she would turn into if she found out her only son was not sleeping soundly in his bed like he was supposed to. Instead, he was dressed as a burglar, with his best friend, and breaking into school; which made the situation even worse. "I'm dead." Jounouchi put an arm around Yami's neck and pulled him close, smiling reassuringly.

"Don't worry, bud. Once your parents find out you're not home, they'll probably call my parents first. And remember, my mom thinks we're at some nightclub, so she'll manage to calm them down. When we come back, I'll tell your mom that I picked you up after they left the house." Yami looked at him, trying to slow down his poor heart that was probably going to burst out of his chest if he did not calm down in the next few seconds.

"You think she'll believe you? My mom is not your mom." Jounouchi grinned, let go of his neck and winked at him.

"Of course she will, never ever underestimate me, Yami."

"Thanks, Jounouchi-kun. You're a life saver." Instead of a cocky grin, Jounouchi gave him a true smile and knelt down so he could sort out the papers Yami had dropped.

"No problem, let's clean this mess up before we leave. Why did you drop it, anyway?" Yami sank to his knees, too and helped him. He tried his best to avoid his gaze and focussed on Yugi's files instead.

"Nothing. It was nothing. Don't worry about it." Jounouchi raised an eyebrow at him and lowered his head, tipping it to one side so he could give the other a look. Yami pretended he did not notice and piled everything up.

"If you say so, Yami," Jounouchi said. "I know you'll tell me someday, you always do. I'm glad I'm not the one with a photographic memory." That fact hit Yami in the face like a huge brick. He had completely forgotten about that, he would probably not be able to get all those pictures out of his head for a _very _long time. Having a photograph did have its advantages, sometimes he even used it to get better grades, but he refused to let himself become a cheater, so he always tried to get the literal pictures out of his head. And now that he thought about it, he wished that he did not have a photographic memory.

After Jounouchi had giving him his own pile, he put the files back and stood there like a lifeless doll.

"I guess," Yami said, quietly. He was still a bit lost in thought, he could not get that one sentence he had read out of his head. He shook his head, turned to Jounouchi with a small smile. "Come on, let's go." He closed the drawer with a small huff, grabbed his bag and followed Jounouchi back to the hallway. While Jounouchi was trying to lock the door again, Yami folded his arms over his chest when he felt a chill running down his spine. He looked over his shoulder, expecting to see someone, but they were still alone.

_Click._ He turned back to Jounouchi, who tried to open the door again, and when the knob would not twist, he grinned proudly.

"Done. Time to leave!" Jounouchi patted Yami's back and led him to the doors. Yami was speechless when he saw the clear dark sky; it had stopped raining, not one single cloud was there, the only thing that could be seen, were the million stars gazing down at them and the bright moon sending out a ghostly white light. "You know, it'll help if you shined some light on the lock."

"... What? Oh, right, sorry." He grabbed the flashlight and shined it on the lock of the door. Jounouchi gave him a grateful nod and continued. Yami looked at his watch, still holding the flashlight in his other hand and shut his eyes, it was almost 12:30. There was a final _click_ and Jounouchi pulled back, patting himself on the shoulder.

"Oh, I know I'm the best, you don't have to tell me, Yami," he said with a smirk. Yami started laughing and put the knife back in his bag.

"Let's go before you fall in love with yourself," he joked, dragging Jounouchi away from the doors. Jounouchi grabbed the umbrella they had left there and twirled the hook around his finger. "Thank you for everything, Jounouchi-kun. You really _are_ the best." Jounouchi glowed at the compliment and put his arm around Yami's shoulder, squeezing the joint.

"You can always count on me, Yami,' he said with wink.

* * *

"Yami! You're back!" Elena wrapped her arms around Yami's neck and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. He almost lost his balance when she practically pulled him off his feet, he looked over his shoulder at Jounouchi who was looking away awkwardly. Yami turned back to his mother and rubbed her back gently. "We were so worried about you! You could've called us." Yami looked at his pocket where his cellphone was.

"Right, I forgot…" he lied lamely, pretending he had totally forgotten about the fact that his phone had been in his pocket the entire time. He was lucky enough that she let is slip, her lips turned into that typical smile of hers and she looked inside at Yami's father who was lying on the couch. His brown hair was draped over the cushions, he had bags under his eyes and his lightly tanned skin looked a bit pale. Guilt was gnawing at Yami's heart teasingly, he had never worried his parents like that, and he truly felt sorry for making them worry.

"Yeah, your father fell asleep on the couch, he wanted to wait for you to come back, but that meeting was rather tiring," she said with a small sigh. "So, Jounouchi picked you up to go to a nightclub?" Jounouchi and Yami chuckled nervously in response. Elena had said it very slowly, as if she could not believe that her own son would go to a nightclub. Yami did not blame her, he was not outgoing, at all, and he always informed his parents about everything. Well, except for the small incident at school and this.

"Yeah, Mrs Sennen, I believe you've spoken to my mother?" Elena nodded at him. "I picked Yami up after you left, and I think he just forgot to tell you." Yami looked at Jounouchi from the corner of his eyes, mouthing a small thanks, so his mother would not hear it. Elena looked at Yami and folded her arms over her chest, casually raising an eyebrow. Yami turned back to her, his thoughts running around his head at the speed of light. The excuses poured down, like the rain had done for three days straight.

"Well, I didn't have the chance to tell you, mom," Yami said simply. That was not really a lie, his parents had left so quickly, that he had not gotten the chance to actually talk to them. He could not have told them about tonight, even if he wanted to. Elena sighed and closed her eyes, leaning against the door with her back so Yami could walk past her.

"Do you want to come in, too, Jounouchi?" she asked, opening one of her violet eyes so she could look at him. Jounouchi shook his head and turned around.

"No, thanks. I'm going home, see you tomorrow, Yami." He placed his hand on Yami's shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly before he left. Elena closed the door when Jounouchi was around the corner and looked at Yami, frowning at his clothes.

"What's with the black outfit?" Yami blinked a few times, looking down at the black clothes that he was wearing. He usually did not wear a lot of black, so this must have been a huge surprise for her to see. Most of the time, he wore his blue school uniform, even when he was at home, because he never bothered to change into his other clothes. And since his parents were barely home during the weekends, they never got the chance to see him wearing his own clothes.

"Uh, a lot of girls find it attractive," Yami muttered lamely, feeling very hot. Elena burst out laughing, she almost sank to her knees, clutching her slim waist. Yami pursed his lips, he did not think she would find it _that _funny. After she had calmed down, she walked over to Yami and patted his cheek, her grin still plastered on her face.

"Should have known," she said softly before placing a hand on Yami's shoulder. "You'll find someone one day, believe me. You don't have to dress up as a robber to make a girl fall in love with you." Yami laughed nervously at the word 'robber', but nodded. "Now, go to bed, we'll talk about this tomorrow." She walked past him, towards the couch, she grabbed the blanket that was neatly folded on the arm and laid it over her husband. She ran her fingers through his hair before she turned off the few lights that were still on.

"About girls?" Yami asked innocently, after he had taken off his jacket. He received a playful glare from his mother.

"Nice try, Yami," she said before pushing him up toward the stairs.

* * *

**Author's note: **Revised.


	4. Sickness and More

It was still pretty early and Yami was sleeping soundly when he suddenly felt a cold but soft hand on his forehead that woke him up from his slumber. The hand lingered there for a moment before it was gone again, as if it had never been there. He frowned and opened his crimson eyes to meet his mother's violet ones. She was leaning over him with a gentle smile and her warm hand was caressing his cheek lovingly.

"Baby, you need to go to school," she said softly. She usually waited for him to come downstairs himself, it had been a while since she came to his room to wake him up. He was not complaining, he grabbed every opportunity to be with his mother. But now, he had just woken up and was not exactly in the mood to see anyone except for his pillow. Yami groaned and closed his eyes again, burying his face in his lovely pillow.

"Two more minutes," he croaked in a thick voice. He expected his mother to pull the covers off his bed, but she stayed completely still. He slowly opened one of his eyes to look at her, she was not showing any emotion, she was staring at him like she was lost in thought. "Mom?" She took a seat on his bed and placed the back of her hand on his forehead.

"Come here," she said. Yami sat up and blinked a few times to adjust to the lights that Elena had turned on. She looked worried and placed her other hand on her own forehead, comparing the two body temperatures. "You're hot and your eyes look glassy." Yami frowned and placed his hand over his mother's, her hand felt nice and cool to his own. Which was a bit odd, since her hand was warm a couple of minutes ago.

"Aren't you just cold?" he mumbled.

"No, wait here." She shook her head an left his room. Yami sighed and blew one of his bangs out of his eyes. He placed his hand on his forehead, feeling the hot and sweaty skin beneath his fingers. He felt his cheek with the back of his other hand, a small frown appearing on his face.

"How is that possible? I was fine yesterday," he whispered to himself. Elena came back with one of their ear thermometers, she was fiddling with the small plastic piece on top of it. After she had managed to put another piece of plastic on the top, she took a seat on the bed again and held Yami's head with her left hand.

"Don't move," she said softly. Yami let out another sigh when she put the thermometer in his ear, it felt weird and it was rather embarrassing to do, too. They both waited patiently before the thermometer let out a small beep. She took it out and looked at the display, reading it out loud, "103.2, you're not going anywhere, Yami."

"Great," he muttered grumpily, collapsing back on the bed. He laid his arm over his eyes, trying to take a deep breath and suddenly, he felt nauseous. His body shot up and he put his hand on his bare abdomen, trying to sooth his empty stomach. He shut his eyes when he felt his throat burning, feeling the nasty taste of his own vomit coming up. Everything started aching, causing him to moan softly in pain; his body was wobbling, trying to keep its balance. A sharp pain shot through his head and he could feel it throbbing behind his eyes, he was truly sick. Elena hugged him close to her, whispering in his ear.

"I'm so sorry, but I can't stay here to take care of you. Your grandmother is in the hospital right now and she needs me." Yami looked at her with his glassy eyes, suddenly enjoying the cool touches she was giving him with her hands. He did not want her to leave, even if it made him look like a small child.

"What?" his voice had gone hoarse and soft, it almost hurt to talk.

"I couldn't tell you last night, that's why I'm telling you right now. She fell off the stairs and has broken her legs, she needs us. And after that I need to go to one of my friends, because she's divorced now. She needs her best friend and Aknamkanon's plane leaves in a few hours. I'll probably stay with her for the rest of the day, she's really depressed. I'm really sorry, baby." Yami leaned on his mother's shoulder, coughing and close to retching. The burning sensation in his eyes was not a good sign, he felt like he was going to faint any minute. Elena nuzzled his neck and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"I'm so sorry, but I don't have a choice. I'll be back at six, I promise, love." She kissed his forehead and walked toward the door. "I'll make some breakfast, do you want anything?" Yami's stomach made a few flips causing him to retch again, and to his relief, nothing came out. Instead, he continued to cough, a small tear rolling down his hot cheek.

Elena made a face. "I guess not. I'll make some tea and eggs. Change into some comfortable clothes and relax on the couch, watch your favorite show, or something. I'll call the school, maybe one of your friends can come over to help you with your homework." Yami groaned when his mother mentioned the word 'homework.'

"Seriously, mom?" he said hoarsely. Elena smiled kindly, placing her hand on the doorknob, ready to turn it.

"You don't want to fall behind, do you?" Yami rolled his eyes at her, causing Elena to chuckle. "Alright, I'm going downstairs now. Take your time. You won't see me for the rest of the day." She walked over to him to give him another kiss on his forehead before waving at him. "I love you."

"Love you, too, mom," Yami said with a small smile. Elena smiled kindly before she closed the door. Yami leaned against the wall with his throbbing head, sighing contentedly when the cool surface cooled off his hot face. His watery eyes were burning, so Yami blinked a couple of times, trying to get rid of the burning feeling. It was as if the fever was becoming worse with each passing second.

Yami threw the warm blankets off of him, enjoying the cool air that brushed his skin when the blankets left his body. He could barely stand so he held the wall for support when he tried to get out of bed. He took off his pajama pants and looked for a large shirt. He grabbed a white shirt and some sweatpants, he pulled the white shirt over his head, panting when he had to pull it all the way down his chest. His body started shaking, not able to support his weight; all the energy seemed to have left his body.

Elena's muffled goodbye reached his ears, but Yami did not have the strength to yell something back. He was breathing heavily through his mouth, sinking to the ground, not having the strength to stand. His pants slipped through his fingers, ending up in a heap on the floor.

"…Mom…?" His vision was blurry before he closed his eyes and slipped into unconsciousness. He heard footsteps entering his room, but Yami could not open his eyes, anymore.

"Shit!" He felt a pair of cold hands under his arms, lifting him up and placing him back on his bed. Yami did not recognize the voice, but it definitely belonged to woman. He felt a cold soft hand on his forehead again before sleep took over.

* * *

Yami woke up in the living room a few hours later. He looked down and saw that he was wearing the same white shirt he had picked and the sweatpants he had forgotten to put on. He looked around, but he was alone, his mother had left. He raised his wrist so he could look at his watch, his eyes widened when he saw the time.

"3:45 pm... What happened?" he muttered, noticing that he was feeling a little better. He was still hot and sweaty, but his body did not ache that much, anymore. He wanted to close his eyes to get a bit more sleep until the doorbell rang, disturbing his peaceful slumber. Yami groaned and sat up, opening his mouth to yell, "The door's open! I think...?" Actually he was not sure, maybe his mother had locked the door when she left. Apparently not because the door swung open and closed again, he heard small footsteps and a smiling Anzu entered his living room.

"Anzu, what are you doing here?" Yami wiped the sweat off his forehead and made a little room for Anzu so she could sit next to him. She did and nervously eyed him up and down, playing with the blanket that had been lain over her friend.

"Hey, Yami," she murmured softly. She brushed some of his sticky bangs out of face, letting her thumb caress his pale cheek. "I came to help you with your homework. Since you didn't come to school today and we have a test in a few weeks, I thought I should come over to help you out. The teachers discussed a couple of important things with us and I need to help you, otherwise you won't be able to do that test." Yami sighed, he should have seen this coming and, if he was going to be honest with himself, he did _not _feel like doing homework, or anything else that involved thinking too much.

To buy some time, he got up from the couch and nodded towards the kitchen. "I think my mom left me some tea in the kitchen, want some?" Anzu grabbed his arm and pulled him back on the couch, patting his hand reassuringly.

"The tea's probably cold by now, silly. I'll make us some new tea." He gave her a smile before she stood up and headed for the kitchen. Yami sighed, looking at the books in Anzu's bag; she had brought _a lot _of books, she was not kidding when she said she would help him. Or... He cringed when he thought about what happened at school the other day.

'If she tries to kiss me again...' he thought with a sigh, rubbing his sore eyes. He had to be honest with her, he had to tell her that it simply was not going to happen, but he did not want to hurt her. This had been going on for quite some time and every time he told himself he would tell her the truth and every time, he could not get the words past his lips. He cared a lot about her and the way she looked at him, broke his heart. This time, he was going to tell her the truth, it was the perfect opportunity. They were alone, he was sick, so she probably would not get too mad at him. And now that he thought about it, he probably looked terrible, maybe she would not try anything and he could just leave it alone once again...

"Coward," he grumbled, slapping his forehead. He moaned in pain, making a mental note not to do that when he was sick.

His thoughts were interrupted when Anzu walked in with a small tray in her hands. There were a lot of other things on the tray, other than the tea, she had also made something to eat and it looked really delicious.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted anything to eat, but I made some sandwiches as well," she said, placing the tray on the table next to the couch and reaching for the cups. "I hope you like strong tea." She handed him the cup with the hot liquid, giving him a hopeful smile.

"Thanks," Yami said, carefully wrapping his hands around the warm cup. Anzu walked to the door where Yami's schoolbag was and came back with it. She took the books out and started talking about the new subjects the teachers had discussed at school that day.

At first, Yami did not want to admit it, but Anzu was pretty good at explaining things. She stopped every ten minutes to ask if he was still following her, and Yami just nodded and told her to continue. The clock above the television started to tick faster in Yami's eyes, he was actually enjoying talking about these subjects with Anzu. She was very patient and gently told him to write things down in case he did not understand something. After almost an hour of explaining everything, Anzu pointed at the exercises in Yami's book, grinning when he glared daggers at the book.

While Yami was trying to do said exercises, Anzu carefully drank her tea and watched Yami from the corner of her blue eyes. Yami could feel her eyes on him and he quickly finished all the exercises without a second thought. Now that she had explained everything very patiently, he knew all the answers without even thinking about it. He laid down the pencil and folded his arms over his chest, giving her a proud smile. She gave him a playful look and grabbed her own book to compare the answers.

After a few minutes of looking back at forth at the two books, she put them down, sighing happily. "You did not make one single mistake. Maybe I should become a teacher."

"Keep dreaming, I'm just an extremely smart student," Yami muttered teasingly, barely dodging the pillow Anzu threw at him. He carefully caught it and held it out of her reach. "I was only kidding. You're very good at explaining, Anzu." She smiled at the compliment, a small hint of pink appearing on her cheeks. A silence fell over them, Yami dropping the pillow onto the floor and carefully eyed her. Apparently hoping that she was not going to do something had not been good enough. She was giving him that look again, twirling a small stray of brown hair around her index finger.

"Yami, there was something I…wanted to say to you," she finally said. She came a bit closer to him, closing her eyes and Yami mentally prepared himself. He could not get away this time, it was either this, or falling onto the floor, possibly taking the tray with hot tea with him. She was so close to him that he could hear her small, nervous breaths.

'Oh, boy, here it comes,' Yami thought, biting his lip and shutting his eyes. He could let her do this, he had to stop her. He had to tell her the truth. In his mind, he gave himself a small push, opening his mouth to protest, but was stopped by Anzu's loud voice.

"I don't have a crush on you, anymore!" Yami cringed and closed his eyes, covering his sensitive ears with his clammy hands. He looked back at Anzu who had put her hands over her mouth, her wide eyes were filled with sorrow. "Sorry!" Yami shook his head, waving her off. He slowly took his hands away from his pounding ears and rubbed them together.

"S'okay," he said softly. He had to hear that again to make sure he was not dreaming, or anything. He turned his head to look her in the eye, he could see that she was still very nervous and that the redness on her cheeks had not left yet. "Did you mean what you said?" Anzu folded her hands together, nodding curtly.

"Yeah, I did have a crush on you, but I really want us to be friends again. You're really handsome and," she paused for a moment, looking away, the redness increasing and laughing nervously. "definitely a catch, but I don't think a relationship is a good idea." She was still avoiding his eyes and Yami could feel more blood rushing to his face, he was sure that he had been walking around with flushed cheeks, so she probably (and hopefully) would not notice.

"Really?" She nodded again, scratching her red cheek with her fingers. He wrapped his limp arms around her shoulder, pulling her into a hug. "Thanks, Anzu." He felt her arms around his waist, gently hugging him back.

"You're welcome." He felt her fingers squeezing his shirt, as if she did not want to let go. She pulled him a bit closer and Yami was not sure if he should pat her back or squeeze her tighter. Luckily, she was the first one to pull back after a good 30 seconds. She cleared her throat and ran a hand through her hair, smiling brightly. "Well, I should go. I'll probably see you in a few days, Yami." She leaned towards him and hesitantly gave him a small kiss on his cheek before she stood up. It was a small thing she had been doing for years, he did not really mind, he saw many girls saying their goodbyes by giving each other a kiss on the cheek. She gathered her books, put them back in her schoolbag and turned to him for the last time.

"You'll be okay, right?" Yami gave her a thumbs up, smiling reassuringly at her. Anzu flashed him a smile, too and was about to turn around before she froze on the spot. Yami blinked, she did not move for a moment, he slowly got up from the couch and walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She gave him a look, not a kind one, she was looking at him like a mother would look at her child if the child had done something wrong.

"What?" Yami asked, frowning.

"I was wondering, you didn't look sick yesterday and there were rumors that Miss Kujaku wanted to talk to you. And now you're suddenly lying on the couch, sick as a dog. Are you in trouble and skipping class?" Yami's jaw almost hit the ground, the great feeling that she had given him a few minutes ago, was gone. She should know him better than that, Yami was not the kind of person to walk away from his problems. Besides, he was really sick and it had not been his choice to stay home.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm just curious, that's all."

"Ah."

"Well, it was raining yesterday, maybe that's what made you sick."

"Possibly."

They stared at each other, Anzu's eyes had softened and Yami had tipped his head to one side. His eyebrows had disappeared under his bangs, giving her a challenging look. Anzu blinked a few times, squeezing her schoolbag, as if she was debating things in her head. Yami knew she hated skipping class, she had never skipped class before and always looked down on the ones who did. Yami had never skipped class before, either, sometimes he had wanted to, but since his parents expected him to do well in school, he could not do it. Finally, Anzu smiled apologetically and shook her head.

"I'm sure that if you had dressed better you would have been fine. Bring a coat and a scarf next time," she scolded playfully before she walked towards the hall. "Oh, and what did you think of the yearbook, by the way?" Yami looked at her, an awkward smile appearing on his face. He had not bothered to read that book, to be honest, he had completely forgotten about it. Anzu was the editor in chief, of course she expected him to read it and enjoy it, and he had carelessly dropped the book somewhere in his room.

"Uh, it was great, Anzu," he said, his nose going a bit red. Anzu gave him a bright smile before she disappeared behind the walls.

"Thanks. See you later." She closed the door, leaving Yami alone. He went back to the couch, sat on it and leaned against the soft fluffy pillows, turning on the television. "I should probably go look for it. Stupid yearbook…" Yami closed his glassy eyes, coughing loudly for the umpteenth time that day. He could hear his cellphone ringing upstairs, it was a pretty annoying sound and he tried to shut out said sound, but it was to no avail. While he was trying to block out the ringing, he suddenly realized something and fell of the couch when he tried to get up.

"Ow..." Yami covered his eyes with his hands, he wanted to smack himself for being so incredibly clumsy. The phone continued to ring, he groaned loudly, standing up and heading for the stairs. He started panting when he had almost reached the top. His head was spinning and throbbing, making him dizzy. Oh, how he _loathed _being sick. He dragged himself to his room where his phone was still ringing, it was on the edge of falling to the floor, it had moved itself all the way to the edge of his desk. Yami was quick enough to catch it and flip it open, he did not even get the chance to say something because the loud voice of his friend exploded from the other side.

_"Yami, you finally picked up the phone! Where the hell are you?"_ Yami rolled with his eyes, he could have guessed that it was Jounouchi, he had probably felt lonely today.

"I'm home," Yami stated sulkily. "...Dying." He went back downstairs, to his beloved couch and sat down, sniffling.

_"Aw, you ill?_ _What happened?" _Yami stared at the screen of the television, some kind of mushy romantic comedy was on and a man and a woman were trying to keep the awkward conversation going. He almost rolled his eyes, he had never liked those romantic comedies.

"I don't know, Jounouchi-kun. I have a fever and I don't know how I got it, I was fine yesterday. I'm all right, though, Anzu came over and—"

_"Aah. What did you two do?" _Yami gritted his teeth and wanted nothing more than to walk over to Jounouchi's house and give him a piece of his mind. He was not into romantic stuff, at all. And he was not interested in a girlfriend. Not at the moment, anyway, he had better things to do. He could not really blame his friend for the teasing, they always make fun of these things, but right now, Yami had a major headache and was not in the mood to deal with it.

"We didn't do anything. She helped me with my homework and, this is the important part, she told me she just wants us to be friends."

_"Man, that's tough. Are you alright, bud?" _Yami raised an eyebrow, forgetting that Jounouchi could not see him. He was silent for a moment before he realized it and continued to speak.

"Yeah… I'm hot and sweaty, retching and couching, but other than that, I'm fine. Why shouldn't I be?"

_"I__ thought you two loved each other…?" _Yami laughed softly at this, it was stupid to think that he and Anzu would ever be in a relationship with each other. It would be really awkward and silly, and, even if he did not want to admit it, he wanted to find the right person to be with. Anzu was a very nice and caring friend, but it would feel wrong to have those feelings for her.

"No. I love her as a sister, we're just friends." Jounouchi snickered on the other side, Yami could almost hear him thinking, trying to come up with some stupid sarcastic remarks.

_"She __did have a huge crush on you." _Yami pulled his feet up to the couch, pulling the blanket over them, he was getting a bit annoyed and decided to cut to the chase.

"Jounouchi-kun, did you call me to talk about my love life?"

_"Well—"_

"Katsuya."

_"Okay, okay. I wanted to talk about Atemu. I didn't get the chance last night, but did you see his last name?_" That made Yami think, he had only looked at Yugi's nameplate underneath the picture, he had skipped every other nameplate, even Atemu's. But why would his last name be so important?

"Why do you want to know his last name?"

"_Well, you never know._" Yami's eyes widened, knowing what Jounouchi was trying to say. And they looked so much like each other... It could be true.

"I'm already thinking. Give me a minute." Yami closed his eyes, searching for that picture. After a few seconds, he saw the picture again. He looked past the picture, past the other faces next to Atemu's and searched for a name underneath it. He squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing one of his temples with his free hand, his eyes drifting down the page. "Almost there..."

And there it was, right in front of him.

_Picture taken: 5th of April, 1960_  
_Name student: Atemu Sennen._  
_Class: A3 _

"_Eh?!_" Yami opened his eyes to meet two people kissing passionately on his television screen. Apparently those two had finally confessed their feelings and were practically sucking each other's faces off. Yami quickly tore his gaze away, shaking his head. He heard Jounouchi shuffling and some weirs noises in the background, causing him to frown.

"_Dude, I almost dropped my phone!__ What is it?_" Yami had closed his eyes, hoping his photographic memory was lying to him. It had never lied to him before, never in his entire life, so there was no way he was seeing things. He opened his mouth to tell Jounouchi about this; he could not really form the words.

"Jounouchi-kun… Atemu was," Yami could barely finish his sentence. "my grandfather."

Yami patiently waited for him to answer, which took a couple of seconds. It was rather quiet on the other side and for a moment, Yami thought Jounouchi had hung up on him, but he had not. "… _Are you serious?_"

"Y-yeah," Yami said, his hoarse voice shaking. "I can't believe it. That's probably why I never knew my grandfather. My parents never mentioned him."

"_Well, that explains why you look so much like him…"_ Jounouchi said dryly. "_You two could be twins._"

"Yeah, I guess. Jounouchi-kun, about Yugi, they never—" Yami looked up when the front door opened.

"Yami, I'm home!"

* * *

**Author's note: **Revised.


	5. My Journal

**Author's note:** Revised.

* * *

Yami was finally feeling a bit better after two long weeks. Jounouchi had not called him, because he wanted to give his best friend some time to recover. Anzu came over to his house everyday to help him with their new subjects, which Yami did not really mind. In fact, he appreciated it, knowing that his parents were probably going to lecture him if he fell behind. Luckily, she didn't bother him on Saturday and Sunday ("I won't torture you everyday, Yami," she had said with a cheeky grin) so he could relax and try to recover from that stupid fever.

When Anzu wasn't there, he tried to focus on Atemu. He had asked his mother a few times, but she would just avoid him, making Yami even more curious. His father had left the country, so he was pretty useless. Calling him was definitely not an option since he was always in a meeting, or in a different timezone, which was unpleasant for both of them. Aknamkanon had always been a bit more talkative than his mother and Yami hated the fact that his mother had been avoiding the subject like the plague.

They had never talked about Yami's grandfather in the first place, he had expected Elena to give him at least _some _answers and not pretend there was a plant in the other room that needed water every time the subject came up.

It was Thursday and Yami was sitting on the kitchen table, swinging his legs back and forth a little. He was waiting for his mother, Yami was not going to let her escape for the hundredth time that week. A cheeky grin spread across his lips; he had come up with a new method to get her to talk. He was going to find out about Atemu, no matter what it was going to take. He was not even sure if Atemu was his grandfather, but he had to know anyway.

The front door opened and closed. Yami stopped swinging his legs, looking up to see his tired mother entering the kitchen. She put her bag on the table and let herself fall on one of the chairs next to said table. Yami took a seat next to her and placed his hand on her arm. She looked up, startled.

"Yami! Sorry, didn't see you there," she said with wide eyes. Raising an eyebrow, Yami moved closer to her face so he could get a better look at her. Dark circles were forming under her beautiful violet eyes and her hair was a bit greasy, as if she hadn't washed it in a couple of days. She looked worn out and in a desperate need of a good nap. Not that Atemu was not important to him, he was, but seeing his mother like this made him forget all about him.

"Mom, is everything alright?" Yami asked softly, squeezing her arm gently with his fingers. Elena gave him a weak smile, before she leaned on her hand with her head.

"Yeah, I'm just tired. I need some coffee." She stood up and started making herself a cup of coffee. Yami just sat there, looking at his worn out mother. Yami had never seen her like this so it was rather intriguing. Being one of the best lawyers of the country could be very tiring, but Elena was good at her job and would never wear herself out like this. "Your father called me today. Said he is staying there for another three months."

By mentioning his father, Yami remembered why had wanted to approach his mother in the first place. He looked up at her when she returned with a cup of coffee in her hand and a glass of water for her son.

"Thanks," he said, taking the glass of water Elena placed on the table. She gave him a small smile after she had taken a seat next to him.

"Ah, I really needed that," she said, leaning back against the chair. Then, her eyes widened a bit and she leaned forward again, placing her hand on the table with a quiet _smack. _She didn't look tired anymore, in fact, she looked better than ever. "Oh, Grandma is doing better. She's not recovering that fast, but after a few more weeks she'll be able to walk again." And that was when Yami grabbed his chance.

"Mom, what happened to grandpa? I've never seen him and you never told me about him." Suddenly, Elena looked very tired again and she avoiding his eyes for a moment. In the meantime, she grabbed her cup and clutched it like a toddler would hold their toy if they were scared to death. Yami was already used to this kind of reaction from her, so it didn't affect him, anymore. He had stopped worrying over Elena and merely looked at her, expecting an answer.

Elena nipped at the rim of her cup before she finally said, "I didn't want to tell you this when you were little, but your grandfather died in the hospital when Lea was pregnant with your father." Now that she had finally said something, Yami expected her to look at him to let him know she was telling the truth. However, she had been staring at her cup the entire time. For the first time in his life, he did not believe his mother. After so many failed attempts, he had had enough and was going to push his her in order to get the answers he wanted.

"But... when I was five you told me he died in a car crash," Yami said innocently. He felt that his hands started shaking and quickly hid them under the table. He had never been good at lying, but apparently it had worked because Elena's eyes had widened once again.

"I did?" Yami decided to stay silent to prevent the truth from slipping out of his mouth. Instead, he slowly nodded and inwardly smirked when she sighed. Bingo. "Oh boy…"

"Is it really that bad?" Elena did not open her mouth this time, she took another sip of her hot coffee and pressed her moist lips together afterwards. Yami had almost started to worry, but decided to push that thought away. He _had _to know. "Can I at least know his name?"

This time, Elena answered without hesitation. "His name was Atemu, Yami." She had closed her eyes and dropped her cup so she could cover up her face with her hands. Yami pulled back, satisfied.

So it was true. _Atemu was Yami's grandfather. _And before Yami could even process the thought, Elena suddenly changed the subject.

"How are you feeling?"

Maybe it was better to let her, he had the answer he wanted, after all. He could always try to get more answers if he needed to, know that he knew he could easily get his mother to talk. "Better," Yami said softly. "I was sick for two weeks. That must be a new record.'" Elena smiled at his answer.

"That's great. Maybe you want to go see grandma later today? She said she really wants to see you," she said.

Yami nodded. "Sure."

"I'm going to go upstairs to change into some normal clothes. You'll be okay, right?" Yami nodded again. She smiled and patted his knee before she left the kitchen. Yami let out a relieved sigh. A sneaky voice in his head told him to use the same tactic on his grandmother to get some answers out of her as well.

"Now, that's just mean. She's broken her legs, so she can't run," he muttered in reply, following his mother up the stairs to change, too. "But it could work."

* * *

About thirty minutes later, they had arrived at his grandmother's house. It was a small cute house that Yami had always loved when he was a kid. His parents used to leave him here all the time when he was little because they were hardly ever home. Lea Sennen had always been a very kind woman and loved to watch Yami when she needed to. Over the years, they had developed a strong bond and Yami was glad he got the chance to see her again. Now that he was in high school and had to work hard everyday, he barely had the chance to see her. It always came down to very quick phone calls and a couple of emails here and there.

Elena opened the door with her keys and yelled, "Lea?" She beckoned Yami to come in, which he did and immediately smiled at the tiny hall they were standing in. A small wave of nostalgia washed over him and he made a quick 360 to drink in all the details. The wooden walls and carpeted floor looked as welcoming as ever and he could still recognize the paintings he had made as a toddler that she had hung up the walls. He could not believe they were still there.

Lea finally decided to reply. "I'm in my room!"

"Okay, I'll be right there. And I brought you a visitor!" Elena winked at Yami when she hung up her coat and gave him a small push towards the wooden stairs. She followed him and Yami had to think for a moment before he found the right door. It was a small room, but his grandmother had managed to decorate it with a small carpet on the floor, a white desk and a bookcase to make it look more cozy. Lea was lying her bed, her short grey hair tied up in a very neat bun and her red eyes were fixed on the small book she was reading. Yami knocked on the door and she looked up. Her small lips curled up in the brightest smile he had ever seen.

"Yami!" Lea spread her arms, so Yami quickly walked over to her bed and leaned down to hug her. She squeezed his shirt tightly in her hands and muttered some sweet words in his ear. Yami smiled when he pulled back and looked at her legs.

"Hey, grandma, how are your legs?" He carefully placed his hand on the bandages, worried that he might hurt her. Lea chuckled and laid the book on her nightstand so she could sit up.

"Well, they don't hurt anymore if that's what you mean, but I can't walk still. That's probably gonna take a while." she said. Yami removed his hand from the bandages, dragged one of the chairs near the bed and sat on it so he could talk to her properly.

"Do you need anything? Do you want something to drink?" Yami could see her crutches at the foot of her bed, but it was probably a very hard task for her to go downstairs to get something from the kitchen. She smiled, placing a hand on his hand.

"No, thank you, Yami. Your mother is already getting us something." He caressed her hand with his thumb gently, something he always did when he was little. He remembered finding it very weird that her skin looked so different compared to his as a child and she would always say that he would find out why that was after a couple of years. Deciding that it was probably not a very good idea to hop on his train of thoughts, he sprang back to reality just in time. "How are you feeling? Elena told me you've been sick."

Yami grinned. "Yeah, it took me two weeks to recover, but everything's fine now. Don't worry about me," he said softly. He looked down at her wrinkly hands, studying her fingers for a while. Elena came back with a few glasses of wine and a glass of juice for Yami.

"Here you are, Lea. And here, Yami, I got you some juice."

He took the glass with a small smile and looked back at his grandmother's hand and then at her other hand that was holding the glass of wine. He blinked a couple of times, wondering why he never noticed it before. Even after all those years he had never noticed that she was missing a very important item. "Grandma?" Lea turned to him, smiling kindly.

"Yes, dear?"

Maybe he was going a bit too far. But curiosity took over and the words blurted out of his mouth. "Why aren't you wearing a wedding ring?" Lea's smile disappeared immediately. Yami felt the blood rushing to his face, knowing he had indeed gone too far.

Elena frowned at Yami, putting her hands on her hips. "Yami!"

"What?" Yami frowned back, putting his hands up in defense, acting as if he had asked a very simple question. He looked back at Lea who had tears in her blood red eyes, he saw she was struggling with herself and trying to pull herself together at the same time.

"Elena, he's sixteen, he's old enough to know," she said almost inaudibly. Elena took a seat on the bed, brushing some of Lea's greying bangs out of her face. She leaned forward, shaking her head.

"But—" Lea shook her head.

"No, I'll tell him. Yami, come here." Said person scooted closer to the bed, eagerly waiting for the answer. He barely noticed how hard Lea was trying to find the right words. "The truth is... Your grandfather and I were never married."

Well, he could have seen that coming, but it still surprised him. "What?"

Lea sniffed, reaching for her nightstand to grab one of the tissues from the box. When her fingers merely brushed against the sides, Yami grabbed one tissue and handed it to her. She smiled thankfully, clutching the piece of fabric in her hands.

"I'm not wearing a ring, because he never proposed to me." Small tears were leaking out of her eyes and trickling down her wrinkled face. "It's my fault, though. I used him." Elena started murmuring and was swaying back and forth, she looked rather uncomfortable. Suddenly, Lea's eyes glared daggers at her ringfinger. "But if it hadn't been for that…" She started cursing under her breath, causing Yami to pull back from the bed. He had never heard his grandmother curse before, he had no idea she even _knew _those words.

"Lea, behave yourself!" Lea looked at Yami's mother.

"I can't help it! It's the only way to describe that… _monster!_" Elena started stroking Lea's cheek to calm her down.

"Calm down, Lea. That was fifty years ago, you're over it," she whispered, placing a kiss on Lea's forehead.

"He doesn't even know he's a father and that's _that things'_ fault!" Lea said through gritted teeth. "It's also my father's stupid fault. Father said I had to lose my virginity when I was sixteen, which I did. But I fell in love with Atemu after our lovemaking. Atemu was very angry because he thought I had used him." Yami opened his mouth to ask her more questions. He did not get one word of what his grandmother had just said.

"Grandma, I don't…" Before he could finish Lea started crying, putting her head in her hands, still clutching that one tissue Yami had given her. Elena scooted closer to her and put her arms around Lea's shoulders. Yami felt guilty, he had not meant to bring back some nasty memories, but he was also very curious. Elena had said all of this happened fifty years ago, which made sense because that was when Atemu was still walking around at Domino High.

"I feel so stupid, I even stole his journal because I wanted to know how to get him back..." Lea choked on her sobs. Yami's head shot up.

"Journal?" Lea looked at him, wiping away her tears with the tissue.

"Yes, but I could never read it. The lock was too strong for me to break. But the day after I stole it he… he…" Lea could not finish her sentence. She started sobbing and Elena tried to calm her down. Elena looked at Yami with an angry look in her eyes.

"I think it's best if you keep your mouth shut now, Yami," she said sternly. She had not talked to him in that voice in years, so he was a bit taken aback. Yami gave her a defiant look, but finally nodded. After all, it was his fault Lea was now crying her eyes out. Yami looked at his hands, now he could only feel guilt and no longer the need to ask any more questions. Lea was whimpering against his mother's shirt and he felt that he had to leave her alone for a while. He stood up, heading for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Yami turned to see his mother glaring at him. For a minute, Yami was sure her violet eyes could have burned a hole through his skull and he had to bite his lip to prevent himself from cringing. She had never looked at him like that before, he knew her limits so he would never push her buttons.

"To the bathroom," he said quickly before opening the door and closing it behind him. He leaned against the door with his head, letting out a long sigh. Today had been a _long _day and he could not wait to go back home and call Jounouchi to tell him what he had found out. He had to talk to _someone _because this was getting too much for him to handle.

He looked down when he felt something fluffy against his leg. Tiger, Lea's cat, was rubbing his cute little head against Yami's leg, purring. He bent down and started stroking his red fur. He barely remembered Tiger since he hadn't seen him in such a long time.

"Hey there, Tiger." Tiger leaned into Yami's touch, licking the tips of his fingers. Yami chuckled softly, scratching Tiger behind his ears. He picked him up in his arms and walked to the living room. Even after all those years, the tiny cat was still small and looked like he hadn't aged a day. He sat down on the couch and placed the small cat in his lap. Tiger started cuddling Yami, playing a bit with his white shirt with his tiny claws. Yami leaned back, thinking about the journal.

Now that he could think a bit, he had the sudden urge to go look for it. But he knew Elena would probably hunt him down if he hurt his grandmother even more than he already had. He kept reminding himself that this was probably the only way to get to know more about his grandfather so that he had no choice. He could walk around the house for a while, casually open a door here and there, maybe even look under tables and chairs if necessary. It was highly unlikely that Elena was not trying to calm Lea down because it had looked like she was not going to calm down anytime soon. Yami shut his eyes; now that he had talked himself into it, he tried to think of a place where Lea could have hidden it.

"Where could it possibly be?" Yami almost flinched when Tiger suddenly rubbed his head against his cheek. Yami started stroking his head absently with the tips of his fingers, still thinking of a way of finding the journal. However, his dream bubble burst after a few minutes when he heard Elena yelling.

"Yami, we're leaving. Where are you?" Yami stood up with Tiger still sitting on his shoulder.

"I'm downstairs, mom," he called back.

"Okay. I'll be down in a minute." She sounded calm enough to Yami so he grabbed Tiger and placed him back on the ground. This was going to be a stupid idea, but he was desperate. He sat on his knees, right in front of the cat and held him still so he could not get away.

"Tiger," he whispered. "Do you have any idea where grandma keeps her secrets?" Tiger looked at him with his large green eyes, blinking and waggling his tail. Yami let go of him when he mewled softly before walking to the bathroom. Yami raised an eyebrow, following him. He turned on the lights when they entered the bathroom and saw Tiger jumping over the sink, onto a small cupboard where he saw a box which was probably where Lea kept her make-up and such. Tiger placed his red paws on the red velvet box, mewling again.

Yami walked over to the velvet box and opened it slightly. Unfortunately, there was a lot of make-up in it, filling up every corner of said box. "If this is a joke, it's not funny, you know." Tiger just mewled, waving his tail rapidly once again, staring at the box eagerly. Yami shrugged and rummaged through all the jewelry and make-up. When he shoved a pair of large earrings away, the tips of his fingers brushed against something hard. Yami frowned, shoving some other things out of the way, revealing a small green book.

There was a huge lock on the green book, sealing it. When he turned it around, he saw a name written in a neat and curly handwriting on the back.

_Atemu Akhenaten Sennen _

Yami's eyes softened when he saw that last name. So Lea had taken Atemu's surname because his father has the same name and finally passed it onto Yami even though Lea never married him. She must have really loved him.

"Thanks," he said, turning back to Tiger, who mewled happily and nuzzled his hand. Yami chuckled, stroking his back and tail softly with the tip of his fingers. With his free hand, he fished out the book and quickly hid the book under his shirt, almost gasping when the cold fabric brushed against his skin. He put everything back in the box to make sure Lea wouldn't suspect anything. He was about to whirl around when his mother shouted his name.

"_Yami!_" Great, she was still pissed off.

"Coming!" Yami turned the lights off and left the bathroom, Tiger following him. Elena stood by the door, already with her coat on, arms folded over her chest. Yami smiled sheepishly, making sure his shirt was covering the journal entirely. He grabbed his black jacket, still looking at his mother when he put it on, distracting her with his gaze so she would not look down at his bulging stomach.

"Come on," she said impatiently, opening the front door. Yami looked back at Tiger who was looking at him, purring. Yami smiled at him, stroking his head and back. Tiger leaned into the touch, licking Yami's hands playfully. He walked around for a bit, rubbing his tiny body against the back of Yami's larger hand.

"Thank you, Tiger," Yami whispered. He still couldn't believe a cat helped him find someone's diary, but… apparently Tiger was a really smart cat. They had known each other for a couple of years after all and Tiger probably knew everything about Lea. He placed his lips gently on Tiger's head before he left. After he had closed the door, he could hear Elena opening her window to call him once again.

Yami groaned loudly, turning to see his mother waiting in the car. He walked towards the car, praying the journal would stay in its place. He moved it slightly so his mother wouldn't notice it when he sat next to her. He quickly closed the door and secured his seat belt. "Yami, I never want you to talk about your grandfather again. Enough is enough." Yami looked at his mother, his eyes widening.

"But mom—" Elena held up her hand to silence him.

"No. You saw how heartbreaking it was for Lea. Never again. Understood?" Yami folded his arms over his chest and nodded, looking away. He had everything he needed anyway. "Good." Elena started the car and drove away.

* * *

The next day, Yami invited Jounouchi over to his house so he could talk to him about everything that had happened the day before. Elena's bad mood had melted away after she had woken up and didn't mind at all. Yami was a bit confused about his mother's behavior, but was not complaining.

"You stole his _what_?" Jounouchi's jaw almost reached the ground when Yami had taken Atemu's journal from under his bed. "Yami, I can't believe you stole it from your own grandmother! I'm so proud of you!" Jounouchi put his arms around Yami's neck, pulling him close. Yami pushed Jounouchi off of him, laughing softly. He had sort of expected his best friend to say something like that because Yami was not a huge fan of stealing things, let alone from his family.

"Yeah, I can't believe it, either. I am never doing it again. It didn't feel good." Jounouchi just shrugged, snatching the journal out of Yami's hands and holding it right in front of his brown eyes as if he could see through it.

"Have you read it yet?" Yami shook his head.

"No, I couldn't force the lock open. I've tried a lot of things already, but nothing has worked so far." Which was true, Yami had tried some random things (when Elena was out of sight of course), with forks, knives, random keys he found, pens, pencils, even scissors. But apparently Atemu really did not want anyone to know what was going on in his mind. Yami could not exactly blame him for that.

Jounouchi smirked at him and waved the book in front of his face. "Yami, Yami, Yami, when are you ever gonna learn?" He raised an eyebrow when Jounouchi walked out of Yami's room, leaving the journal on Yami's bed. Blinking, he waited for Jounouchi to come back and prayed that his mother wasn't around. He quickly glanced out of his window and smiled when she saw she was cleaning the porch with a broomstick. The minute he turned back to the door, Jounouchi came back with a hammer in his hand. Yami wanted to burst out laughing, thinking that it was just a joke, but his eyes widened when he brought the hammer closer to the lock.

"Jounouchi-kun, wait! You can't just—" But it was too late. Jounouchi had already broken the lock with the hammer and was removed it.

"There you go, Yami." Jounouchi put the hammer on the bed and threw the journal at him. Yami caught it with one hand and chuckled quietly. He could not believe it had actually worked, but at least one problem was solved now.

"Thanks, Jounouchi-kun." Jounouchi sat next to him again.

"By the way, Yami." Yami looked at him and saw that Jounouchi had shifted a bit and was looking him, worried. "Didn't you want to tell me something about Yugi?" Yami looked down at his hands when he remembered that day he got sick and could not not finish his sentence when his mother came in. He was somewhat relieved he could tell Jounouchi now and not on the phone because it was such a disgusting thing to think about.

"Yeah, something terrible. The files said that he was killed but," he started. Jounouchi reached for his arm and Yami closed his eyes, seeing the files appearing in front of his eyes again. The words were right there, begging him to read them aloud. Five words. And those very five words blurted out when he gave himself a small push. "his body was never found."

Jounouchi did not reply right away, which Yami did not mind. He needed some time to process the fact that he had actually said those words. It had been shocking to read them and now that he had said them out loud, it suddenly felt like a dagger in his chest.

"You'd better be kidding." Yami shook his head, wishing it were true. He did not even know Yugi, but that didn't stop him from worrying over him. And now that he thought about it, how was it even possible that his body was never found? Surely people would have went looking for him, no one deserved that cruel fate, especially not him. He had looked so happy in that picture, he was that kind of person that would not even hurt a fly, and he was the ideal pupil according to his file on top of that, too.

"I'm not, Jounouchi-kun. I can't believe it. Didn't they ever start an investigation? I know it was fifty years ago, but he was _killed_. I'm sure at least _someone _went looking for him. And what about the police? They should have at least _tried _to solve this. What kind of—" He was cut off by Jounouchi who gently interrupted him.

"Calm down, bud. How do you even know he was killed?" Yami was not sure if he had to tell him that. He had kept it a secret ever since it all started, Jounouchi had no idea Yami had seen Yugi's transparent body a couple of weeks ago. Maybe he wouldn't even believe those words. But it was as if Yami's life was turned upside down, nothing was normal and absolutely nothing made sense. Jounouchi knew Yami would never lie to him, let alone about something that was really important to him.

Yami took a deep breath to calm himself down and murmured, "Because I saw his... ghost." He had expected Jounouchi to burst out laughing, but he never did. Instead, he scooted a bit closer to him and gave his arm a reassuring squeeze.

"Really?" he whispered quietly.

"His body was transparent. He had a bleeding cut across his heart and he was crying his eyes out. The wound looked so fresh, like someone had stabbed him in the chest not two seconds ago and there was blood everywhere. And... The blood disappeared when he disappeared, too. He also thought that I was Atemu when he saw me. I told him I was not Atemu and he got even more upset about it. Do you have any idea why?"

Jounouchi shrugged. "No idea," he said. "I'm sorry you had to see Yugi like that. Must have been terrible for you." Yami nodded, sighing through his nose.

"I want to find out what happened to him, but I also want to know more about my grandfather." Yami looked at the green journal with Atemu's name on it. It was a bit dusty and the binding was a bit fragile. He tugged at the broken lock, it came right off. Yami threw it in the trashcan, causing Jounouchi to laugh softly.

"You've got to admit that it was a pretty good idea to break it with a hammer, Yami," Jounouchi said proudly. Yami rolled his eyes at him.

"Sure, Jounouchi-kun." He brushed his fingers over the cover.

* * *

**Author's note: **So... I gave Atemu a middle name. Go me. YAY.

Love you all, thank you so much for the reviews!


	6. Unknown Languages and Relationships

**Author's note:** Sorry it's taking forever to revise this and sorry this chapter is a bit short. :')  
I'll try to rewrite faster, but I'm also working on my other stories, derp.

* * *

It had been a few days after he had gotten the journal and up until now, he hadn't been able to understand one word of it. Yami ran his hand through his hair for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.

He rubbed his tired eyes that were itching from all the reading, but it was no use; he was way too tired. Atemu's journal wasn't written in Japanese. He had tried to figure it out by using the internet, his school books, all of his dictionaries, he even asked a few other students, but no one could read it. Jounouchi had tried to decipher it, but he didn't recognize the language, either.

His mother would know… Yami shook his head, massaging his temples. He was not _that_ desperate to go to his mother. She would probably yell at him for stealing it, and besides, he was not allowed to talk about his grandfather anymore.

The words of the diary were making his eyes itch even more, so Yami just flipped trough the pages, trying to find some familiar words again. When he came to the last page, he noticed some wrinkly spots. Yami let the tips of his fingers brush over them. Those spots had been wet and had dried over time, leaving the paper wrinkled

"Why would this page be wet?" His stomach growled for the third time in one minute, making Yami cringe in pain. He grabbed the apple that was standing on his nightstand and bit into it. Seeing that it was no use trying again, he sat up straight and looked at his alarm clock.

It was around two in the morning. His eyelids started closing on their own, but Yami didn't allow them to close and blinked a couple of times to wake himself up a bit. But it was no use. He stood up and started unbuttoning his shirt so he could change into his pajamas. He ate his apple, threw it in his trashcan and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

When he looked in the mirror, his eyes widened. His usually bright red, awake eyes looked dull and exhausted; there were bags under those eyes and he cringed at the alarming sight.

Tomorrow was going to be a _long _day.

* * *

The next day, Yami literally had to drag himself to school. Those four hours of sleep he got in the last few days were not very promising. His muscles ached whiningly with every step he got closer to the building, but he ignored them.

When he walked into his classroom, he saw that he was one of the last students to arrive. Most of his classmates were already sitting in their seats, chatting happily and laughing at each other's jokes. Jounouchi was sitting at his desk, drawing random patterns in his notebook, obviously bored.

Yami quickly walked over to his own desk and tapped his friend on the shoulder to let his presence known. Jounouchi's head shot up and his eyes sparkled brightly, but the happy glitter disappeared at the sight in front of him.

"Hey, bud. You don't look so good," he said slowly. "Did you get enough sleep last night?" Yami shook his head, groaning softly.

"That stupid journal kept me awake. I can't understand _one _word of it and it's driving me nuts," Yami drawled. "If I fall asleep during class, wake me up. I can barely keep my eyes open." He dropped his bag next to his desk and let himself fall onto his chair. Jounouchi grinned and patted Yami's head.

"At least all the girls will leave you alone today," he said. Yami knew Jounouchi was just trying to cheer him up and it worked to some extent, but he was overall too tired to even chuckle. He reached for his bag again to pull out his books and put them on his desk.

Miss Kujaku entered and closed the door behind her. She walked up to her own large desk and gave the class a gentle smile.

"Good morning, everyone. I will give you back your tests right away," she said, reaching in her bag and taking out said tests. Yami placed his head in his hands, closing his eyes tiredly. At least he could close them for a few minutes; she wouldn't notice when she was walking around. And he was right, for she walked around, reading the names of her students to herself.

She stayed at a few desks, patting the shoulders of the students who failed her exam, or compliment them for getting such a good grade.

Jounouchi quickly tapped him on the shoulder when he heard the clicks of her heels. He opened his eyes and smiled politely when she laid the test on his desk with a proud grin.

"Very well done, Yami. This is definitely your— What's this?"

Before he could stop her, her hand reached out for his books. Apparently he had accidentally grabbed the journal and placed it on his desk, as well. He had been carrying it around in his bag ever since he got it because he even tried to read it in between breaks. She picked it up and studied the cover with a confused look in her violet eyes.

"It's nothing, please give it back," Yami said in a forced calm voice. But then he relaxed because he knew she probably couldn't read one word of it. His teacher opened the book and her eyes widened.

"Romanized Egyptian… I didn't know you could write that, Yami. Fascinating." She started reading the pages. Only then did Yami notice that everyone had gone silent and was staring at the little scene. Miss Kujaku's eyes scanned the pages and he felt his heartbeat increasing. The legs of his chair scraped against the floor when he stood up.

"Right," he said, his voice sounding higher than usual. "…Can I have it back now?" She looked at him, her eyes giving him a scolding look. Everyone started whispering, giving him weird looks. Jounouchi was staring at the two as well, with the same shocked look in his eyes.

Miss Kujaku flipped through the pages again before she gave it back to him with an expressionless face.

"I want to talk with you, Yami. Come see me after class," she whispered so only he could hear her, seeing that everyone was listening. He nodded without saying anything and sat back on his chair again. She continued giving everyone their tests back while Jounouchi started whispering to Yami like there was no tomorrow. He was asking all kinds of questions about his grandfather's background, the language itself and why Miss Kujaku would be able to read it. Yami pretended to listen by nodding every now and then, but in reality he was staring at the cover of the journal.

He didn't even notice the red 'A' written on his test with a small smiley drawn next to it and the "_Congratulations!_"

During class, Miss Kujaku answered the questions of her test, wrote things on the board and explained the complicity of grammar. Jounouchi had given up trying to talk to Yami and tried to comb his messy, blond hair instead.

Sooner than Yami had hoped, the bell rang and everyone started packing their things. Miss Kujaku was looking at Yami with a stern look when he started packing, too, to remind them of their deal. Jounouchi stood by the door with his bag over his shoulder, looking at him over his shoulder.

"You coming?" Yami shook his head at his best friend.

"No, I…" He looked at Miss Kujaku from the corner of his eyes, hoping Jounouchi would understand. His friend nodded and left the now silent classroom. Yami grabbed his bag and walked to his teacher's desk with the journal in his hand.

They said nothing for a moment before his teacher decided to cut to the chase right away.

"It's your grandfather's journal, isn't it?"

Yami felt that his heart skipped a beat. Miss Kujaku placed one of her hands on her desk and leaned onto it with a small smile.

"Hit the nail right on the head," she said, looking down at her hand. "Atemu was a quite popular student because of certain reasons, which you probably know of. People still talk about him in the teacher's lounge sometimes. Since I've only been working here for a few years, I don't know everything, but I do know he's your grandfather and that he was Egyptian."

That was certainly not the first time he heard that Atemu was a popular student. Though, it was a bit vague why teachers would still talk about him after fifty years. He must have left a huge impact.

"I was wondering why you're carrying his journal around." Yami sighed through his nose, looking down at the fragile journal in his hand. He opened it slowly, scanning the pages with his eyes.

"I…wanted to know more about him, ma'am. My parents never told me anything and up until a few days ago, I didn't even know he was my grandfather," he explained softly. "Because you recognized it, I now know that he's Egyptian."

"Yes, I recognized it because I started studying Egyptian a few years ago. I'm not exactly fluent, or anything, but I gave it a try because I was interested. You know that I'm a language freak," Miss Kujaku said with a lame grin. Then, her expression turned serious again. "Can _you_ read it?"

"No, I can't. That's the problem."

She raised an elegant eyebrow at him. "Can't you just ask your parents? I'm sure they know something—"

"I'm not allowed to talk about him anymore. So asking my parents is useless." She stood up from her desk and gently took the journal from him.

"Look, Yami. I'm not a fan of stealing someone's journal—"

"I didn't steal it!" Yami quickly interrupted her again. She looked over her shoulder and gave him a cold glare.

"That's the second time you interrupted me, kid. Can you shut your mouth for one second and let me finish?" she snapped, bringing back her teacher-attitude. Yami obeyed and looked down at his feet, feeling the blood rush to his face.

"I'm sure your parents have a very good reason for not telling you about him. I've talked to your parents before; they are very nice people who probably want the best for their son. But I don't see a reason why they would hide stuff from him. He was a good student from what I've heard."

Miss Kujaku started flipping through the pages again, pursing her bright red lips in concentration. "There's about one hundred pages in here, his handwriting is pretty big and it looks like he skipped a few pages by accident because some of these are blank…"

Yami frowned at her mumbling. "Ma'am?"

"I can translate it for you if you want."

Now Yami was truly taken back. He could not believe she would offer to do that for him. It would surely take a few days to translate the entire book.

"Like I said, I'm not fluent, but I'm pretty good. It's going to take a few days since I do have a social life, and other tests I need to mark. Interested?" She waved it in front of his face with a smug grin, probably knowing he was not going to let this offer slip through his fingers.

A wide grin reached Yami's eyes when he bowed. "Definitely interested. Thank you, ma'am, I really appreciate it."

He watched her putting the journal in her own brown bag and straightened up.

"And_ I _would really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone else about this little conversation we had. Not even that handsome devil you call your friend because I know he's a blabbermouth. This stays between us, okay?"

"Of course."

"Good. Now, get your butt to your next class." Miss Kujaku gave him a slight push towards the door and winked at him when he disappeared around the corner.

Jounouchi was probably not going to like the fact that he couldn't tell him about the deal. Yami's lips curled into a small smirk. But he would probably forget about it as soon as he heard his favorite teacher just referred to him as a 'handsome devil.'

The rest of the day practically flew by because Yami was put in a much better mood. His exhaustion had been washed away by his teacher nice offer and he could not wait to get some answers. Jounouchi kept nagging him to tell him about their conversation and Yami quickly promised that he would tell him eventually.

At the end of the day, he and Jounouchi were at the lockers, grabbing their books and coats.

Jounouchi was leaning against the lockers, a playful smirk on his face. Yami had just told him about Miss Kujaku's words and he started glowing with pride right away.

"A handsome devil, eh? I knew she couldn't resist me."

Yami grinned and slammed his locker shut. "As your best friend it's my duty to keep you from screwing around. You don't want her to lose her job, do you?"

His friend grunted disapprovingly and folded his arms over his chest. "I hate it when you're right."

"Look on the bright side, she's finally noticed you after two years."

That earned him a playful punch in the shoulder. They both laughed softly before they walked to the front door. Jounouchi started talking about one of their other teacher, talking in a squeaky little voice to make fun of him. They passed a huge window and, Yami didn't know why, but he looked up at his reflection and felt his knees going weak.

Yugi was staring at him with a blank look in his eyes. It was as if those eyes were boring a hole in his skull because he felt himself getting lost.

"Earth to Yami! Are you there?" Jounouchi waved his hand in front of Yami's face. Yugi disappeared again and Yami blinked, wondering if he had been his imagination.

"Y-yeah, I just realized I still have to do something. I'll see you tomorrow, Jounouchi-kun," he said. Jounouchi nodded, gave Yami a quick pat on the shoulder before he left with a small wave.

The school slowly became empty and Yami grabbed his chance. He looked for an empty restroom and found it not to be that hard. The first one he entered was completely empty and he quickly checked all the toilets just to be certain. After making completely sure he was alone, he dropped his bag and looked at his reflection.

"Yugi?" he said softly. Within two seconds, Yugi appeared next to him, hugging his arms. Yami took a deep breath and turned around, and relaxed slightly when Yugi didn't disappear this time. The picture he had seen in the yearbook flashed in front of his eyes and he smiled sadly.

In the picture, Yugi looked so happy and bubbly, like he loved life. The ghostly pale teenager standing in front of him looked hurt, betrayed and miserable. This was the closest Yami had ever seen him and he couldn't help but take a step closer so he could have a better look.

"_So, I guess you know my name now._"

Right at that moment, blood started dripping on the floor. It didn't take long before it turned into a small puddle of crimson liquid. Yugi looked down at the blood and took a step closer to him as well.

"I do." The wound grew darker with each step. It was as if there was an invisible knife boring through his heart, making the wound deeper and larger.

The sight made Yami nervous. It made him feel like it was _him _who washolding that knife. Yugi kept taking small steps until their chests were practically touching. When Yami breathed softly, Yugi looked up at him, his eyes glistering with fresh tears.

"_Why do you keep looking for me, Yami? Is there something you want?_"

"I…" Yami whispered shakingly. He was distracted by the look Yugi was giving him. Those eyes were begging him to do something, anything, but he didn't know _what._

"I wanted to talk about Atemu."

He was left with complete silence. Yugi sighed softly and looked down at the wound; a small puddle of blood was now surrounding him and he had left a trail with his shoes. Yami tried not to stare too much at the blood; he was feeling rather nauseous.

"_What do you want to know about him?_"

His voice echoed softly through the walls. Calm violet eyes looked up at him expectantly, waiting for the question.

"… Your relationship with him." The once calm eyes suddenly glared daggers at him. Yami slowly backed away; it looked like he had entered a very dangerous zone. Yugi reached for the wound, clutching it as if he wanted to stop the bleeding.

"_My relationship with him,_" he stated quietly, more to himself than to other. For a minute he looked confused, then hurt and when he looked up again, he looked angry. "_Why do you want to know?_"

Hesitantly, Yami reached out to him to calm him down. He wasn't even sure if he was able to touch him, but the minute he touched the cold, yet soft cheek, his question was answered. With a shaky thumb, he slowly traced the teen's jawline, feeling the coldness spreading through his hand.

However, it looked like it had worked because Yugi's eyes softened. "Because I care about you."

The minute he said those words, Yugi reached for his hand and gripped it like a lifeline. Then, with a rather rough pull, he removed it from his cheek. His grip however, tightened.

"_Do you?_" he whispered. Yami's hand had started shivering in the iron grip, desperately trying to create some warmth. No matter how much he pulled, he couldn't get his hand to escape from the hold.

"I do, Yugi," he said, determination shining in his eyes.

Yugi let go of his hand and took a step closer. This time, he reached for Yami's face with his bloody hand he used to cover up the wound. The slightly warmer blood dripped down his cheek, making him tremble.

He felt Yugi stroking his cheek with his thumb. The blood was now trickling down his shirt; he pressed himself against the sink, trying to get away. His mouth opened, but no sound came out of it.

"_You look so much like him…_" Yami pressed his body further into the sink, which was painfully bruising his lower back. Yugi was coming way too close to him and he panicked.

"That's because he was my grandfather," he blurted out. Like he had expected, Yugi pulled his hand back as if he had burned himself. A new kind of anger sparkled in his eyes; rage.

"_What?_" he hissed, narrowing his eyes. "_H-how is that possible?_"

At that point, his voice broke and he looked at his hand as th the limb shook. One single tear rolled down his cheek and he looked at Yami disbelievingly. Yami wanted to reach for him again, but Yugi took a step back, hugging his arm protectively.

"I… " The words got stuck in Yami's throat. He wasn't sure how to react to Yugi's sudden change of attitude. He was beyond confused at the fact Yugi got so upset and angry over it. Why would that be a huge deal…?

Then it hit him. If he put two and two together, he could easily guess why Yugi was staring at him as if his world had just collapsed.

"Were you in love with him, Yugi?"

It looked like he was right, for Yugi's chin started quivering and he looked away. Yami's eyes softened at the action, knowing very well that his words had hurt Yugi a lot more than he had intended to.

"_Atemu was…We were…_" Yugi took a deep breath before he looked at Yami, another tear trickling down his cheek. "_He was my boyfriend._"

"_What?_" A thousand questions entered Yami's mind, making his mind spin. He had definitely not expected _that _answer. He reached for his head with his hand, rambling, "But… He was with… Lea was… You're… I'm… he slept with… _Boyfriend?_"

Yugi folded his arms over his chest and nodded. "_Well, you got your answer. You don't need me anymore._" And with that said, he disappeared once again, leaving Yami in complete awe.

It could have been a lie. It _had _to be. Yami wouldn't be standing here if Atemu hadn't slept with Lea fifty years ago. Maybe it was only one-sided and Yugi was merely in love with him. It was the only logical solution.

Yami touched his cheek where Yugi had touched him. It had been such an affectionate touch. And the way he looked at Yami when he leaned into him made Yami absolutely sure about the theory. There was no doubt about the fact Yugi had been in love with his grandfather and was now reflecting his unanswered feelings on him.


End file.
